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Fumio KishidaTOKYO, Mar 31 Tokyo’s negotiations with Russia to conclude a peace treaty against the background of the international community’s efforts to reduce tensions around Ukraine could send the Russian leadership a “wrong message.” Speaking in the lower house of the Japanese parliament, Kishida noted that after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014, Japan, which considers these actions a «violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine», and the international community cooperated in an attempt to influence Moscow and Kyiv to reduce tensions.Media: Japan again began to call the South Kuriles illegally occupied «At the same time, as part of our course towards resolving the territorial issue and signing a peace treaty, we continued to engage in dialogue with the Russian Federation. The statement that in this way we could send President (of Russia Vladimir) Putin «erroneous message» does not correspond to reality,» the head of the Japanese government emphasized. Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 following a referendum after a coup d'état in Ukraine. In the referendum, 96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol voted for joining Russia. Ukraine still considers Crimea its own, but temporarily occupied territory, many Western countries support Kyiv in this. The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the inhabitants of Crimea democratically, in full accordance with international law and the UN Charter, voted for reunification with Russia. According to President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea is «finally closed».Japan has taken an anti-Russian position according to the patterns of the United States, Patrushev saidRelations between Russia and Japan have been overshadowed by the absence of a peace treaty for many years. In 1956, the USSR and Japan signed a Joint Declaration in which Moscow agreed to consider the possibility of transferring the Kuril Islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty, and the fate of Kunashir and Iturup was not affected. The USSR hoped that the Joint Declaration would put an end to the dispute, while Japan considered the document only part of the solution to the problem, without abandoning claims to all the islands. Subsequent negotiations led to nothing, the peace treaty at the end of World War II was never signed. Serious opposition arose from the United States, which threatened that if Japan agreed to the transfer of only two of the four islands to it, this would affect the process of returning Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty (the agreement on the return of Okinawa to Japan came into force in 1972). Moscow's position is that the islands became part of the USSR following World War II, and the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over them is beyond doubt. commented on the possible payment for Russian LNG in rubles In 2018, in Singapore, following a summit meeting between the leaders of Russia and Japan, the Japanese Prime Minister said that the parties agreed to speed up the negotiation process on a peace treaty based on the Joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration of 1956. This was a serious concession on the part of Japan, since until that time its official position was to demand the return of the four islands and only after that — the conclusion of a peace treaty. Earlier this month, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow, as a response to Tokyo's events in Ukraine, Sanction refuses to negotiate with Japan on a peace treaty, stops visa-free trips of Japanese citizens to the southern Kuril Islands, withdraws from the dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activities in the southern Kuriles.