Russia talks islands with Japan

Mori and Putin say they will hold further talks on the islands so that they can sign a WWII peace treaty

IRKUTSK, Russia -- Russia and Japan have finished talks on four disputed islands saying they are closer to reaching an agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori met on Sunday in the city of Irkutsk to try to settle the fate of the islands, claimed by both countries.

Failure to resolve the dispute has stopped the two countries from ever signing a World War Two peace treaty.

Russia seized the islands, lying 15 km (nine miles) off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, in the last days of the war. Since then Japan has demanded the four, which it calls the Northern Territories, be handed back.

Russia calls the islands the Kurils.

More talks

Mori arriving in Russia

In a communiqué issued two hours after talks, the two leaders agreed to hold further talks on resolving the dispute and vowed to speed up their efforts to sign a peace treaty.

The countries had failed to meet a pledge to sign a treaty by the end of 2000.

The communiqué also said both sides stood by a 1956 agreement that calls for two of the four islands to be returned to Japan.

But the statement does little to end the long-running dispute since both sides interpret its meaning differently.

In an interview with Japan's NHK television on the eve of his meeting with Mori, Putin said Russia agreed in principle to transfer the two islands.

But he added the 1956 declaration was unclear on the actual transfer of the islands.

"It is not recorded there on what conditions the islands are to be transferred," he said. "All this is a subject for talks."

But Japanese officials said the statement represented a step forward because it is the first time Russia has tied itself to the 1956 accord in writing.

Russia has been unwilling to relinquish its control over the islands because Russian leaders don't want to lose another piece of the former Soviet Union.

Leaders optimistic

Mori paying his respects to his father

In a news conference following the talks, the two leaders emphasized the warmth of their discussions, using words such as "deep trust" and referring to each other by their first names.

"I would like to inform you with great satisfaction of a new step forward on establishing partnership between Russia and Japan," Putin said.

Mori told the same news conference the two sides should reach a "mutually agreeable" conclusion to the sovereignty of the four islands.

"Our ultimate aim is to get the islands back but we are not so naive to think this is going to happen any time soon. It took 50 years to get this far," a Foreign Ministry official told reporters in a briefing.

Father's grave

Following the talks, Mori, accompanied by Putin, visited the graveyard that holds the ashes of his father, Shigeki.

The unlikely story of how a small-town Japanese politician came to lie in the icy soil of Siberia in many ways mirrors relations between the two Pacific neighbors in the decades after World War Two.

Like most Japanese men of his age, Mori senior took part in the war as a member of Japan's Imperial Army, fighting the Soviets on the battlefields of Manchuria in Northern China.

But he had a dramatic change of heart when he visited Russia in 1960 in connection with a Japanese trade fair and following years of visits, he signed a sister-city agreement.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

Japan, Russia to discuss Kuril isles
March 24, 2001

Japan Prime Minister's Office
Russia Government

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