MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Tokyo hopes that the strengthening of mutual trust in Japan-Russia relations will eventually result in the signing of the peace treaty between the two counties, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday.
"I hope that the strengthening of mutual trust in relations between our countries will ultimately lead to the signing of the peace treaty," Abe said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel host Vladimir Solovyev.
Moscow and Tokyo have not signed a peace treaty after World War II, when the Southern Kuril Islands became part of the Soviet territory. Japan disputes the territorial status of the Kurils, calling them Northern Territories. In December 2016, an agreement on joint economic activities on the Southern Kuril Islands was reached between Tokyo and Moscow during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan.
