Lighthouse on Kunashir Island. Archival photoMOSCOW, Oct 7The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a resolution recognizing the southern Kuril Islands as «Russian-occupied territory of Japan,» follows from the data on the website of the parliament.»The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine declares support for Japan's position regarding its Northern Territories; recognizes that these territories continue to be under the occupation of the Russian Federation,» the text of the document says. In the same place, Kyiv called on the international community to take all possible measures «on the legal formalization of the status of the Northern Territories of Japan.» Japan claims the Kunashir Islands, Shikotan, Iturup and Habomai, referring to the bilateral Treatise on Commerce and Frontiers of 1855. Tokyo set the return of the islands as a condition for concluding a peace treaty with Russia, which was never concluded at the end of World War II. In 1956, the USSR and Japan signed a joint declaration in which Moscow agreed to consider the possibility of transferring the two islands in the presence of a peace agreement. The USSR hoped to put an end to this, while Japan considered the deal only part of the solution to the problem, without giving up its claims to all the islands. Subsequent negotiations came to nothing. 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. Japan to conclude peace is now impossible, said Peskov
