TOKYO, February 7 Japan made a representation to Russia protesting the amendment Japanese organization associated with the movement for the return of the so-called “northern territories,” as Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai are called in Japan, Secretary General of the Japanese Government Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference in Tokyo.
On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Justice included three non-governmental organizations from Japan, Ukraine and Switzerland in the list of undesirable organizations. The list was supplemented by the Japanese «Union for the Return of the Northern Territories» («Union of the Struggle for the Return of the Northern Territories»), the Ukrainian «Crimean Tatar Resource Center» and the Swiss IndustriALL Global Union.
“This announcement by the Russian side is one-sided and unacceptable. Through diplomatic channels, on February 7, the Russian side made a representation protesting this unacceptable announcement and demanding its cancellation,” Hayashi said.
Relations between Russia and Japan have been clouded for many years by the absence of a 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 giving up its claims to all the islands.
Subsequent negotiations did not lead to anything; a 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 transfer 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 the Second World War and the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over them cannot be doubted.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated on March 21, 2022 that Moscow, as a response to Tokyo’s unfriendly steps, refuses to negotiate with Japan on a peace treaty, stops visa-free travel for Japanese citizens to the southern Kuril Islands, and withdraws from dialogue with Japan on establishing a joint economic activities in the southern Kuril Islands.