Moscow and Tokyo are ready to seek compromise on the conclusion of a bilateral World War II peace treaty, despite the fact that their stances on its possible conditions are different, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“Our stances on the peace treaty are yet different, but we have confirmed our readiness to continue efforts to find a compromise,” Lavrov said at a press conference after talks with his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba.
Row over the Kuril Islands, which are known as the Northern Territories in Japan, has prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty since the end of World War II.,
Earlier, The Russian Foreign Ministry quoted Lavrov as telling Gemba that bilateral talks on the issue should be held "in a quiet atmosphere, without preliminary conditions and one-sided historical links."
Last year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sparked a diplomatic row with Tokyo by making the first ever visit by a Russian leader to the islands. He later said Russia would increase its military presence there. Japan's then prime minister Naoto Kan called Medvedev's visit an "inexcusable rudeness."
