The southern group of the Great Kuril Islands. File photoTOKYO, 22 Apr. For the first time since 2003, Japan officially designated in the Blue Book of Diplomacy this year the «northern territories» (as the country calls the southern Kuriles) as «illegally occupied» by Russia. The annual report was presented by the Japanese Foreign Ministry at a government meeting in Friday, the Kyodo agency said.Russia canceled the visa-free regime in the South Kuriles for citizens of JapanIn the Blue Book for the first time since 2011, the definition also appeared that the islands are «territory belonging to Japan.» Despite the fact that, in general, Japan's position regarding the islands remains the same for decades , the wording of the «Blue Book on Diplomacy» varies depending on the «temperature» of Russian-Japanese relations. So, if in 2018 the report contained a definition that the islands belong to Japan, then in the Blue Book of 2019 it disappeared and was replaced by the thesis that the two countries, under the leadership of their leaders, are working to resolve the territorial issue. In 2020, after sharp criticism of this wording, the definition of the islands as territories «to which the sovereignty of Japan extends» returns. In 2021, the same definition was retained in the report. Tokyo had previously imposed several packages of sanctions against Moscow in response to the Russian special operation in Ukraine. In particular, he excluded Russia from the most favored nation trade regime and imposed a ban on the export of 275 goods from March 18, including semiconductors, radars, sensors, lasers, communications equipment, recording devices and their components, software, components for tractors, gas turbine engines for aircraft and their components, equipment for oil refining. From April 5, the export of luxury goods, including cars and jewelry, to Russia will also be banned.Japan protested against Russia over the exercises in the Kuriles Last week, Moscow, in response to Tokyo's unfriendly steps, announced its refusal to negotiate a peace treaty, the termination of visa-free travel for Japanese citizens to the southern Kuril Islands and the withdrawal from the dialogue on establishing joint economic activities in the region. Relations between Russia and Japan have been overshadowing for many years no peace treaty. In 1956, the USSR and Japan signed a Joint Declaration, in which Moscow agreed to consider the possibility of transferring 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 entered into force in 1972). Moscow's position is that the islands became part of the USSR following World War II and Russia's sovereignty over them is beyond doubt. historically justified refusal to dialogue with Tokyo on the Kuriles
