Progress in Japan-Russia islands row

Progress is believed to have been made on a peace treaty since Mori and Putin met in September

November 16, 2000
Web posted at: 1:56 AM HKT (1756 GMT)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (Reuters) -- Japan and Russia have made progress in resolving a long-running territorial row that has kept them from signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II, Japanese officials said.

But they still looked set for hard negotiations over four tiny Russian-held islands before any agreement and a senior Russian official said he saw little chance of a deal this year.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Wednesday held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Brunei.

"Some progress was made in relations between the two countries," a Japanese government official said.

He declined to give details because, he said, the two World War II foes had started to have "extremely substantive" talks.

The official said the two leaders agreed to meet again in the Russian city of Irkutsk near Lake Baikal, possibly by the end of this year, to try to sign a peace treaty -- to which the islands are the sole obstacle.

Putin's predecessor Boris Yeltsin and then Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto had vowed in 1997 to work towards clinching a treaty by the end of 2000.

Soviet troops seized the islands, located off Japan's main northern island of Hokkaido, at the end of the war in 1945.

Russia fears a nationalist backlash if it returns what it calls the Southern Kuriles while Japan wants what it terms the Northern Territories back as a matter of national pride.

It has refused to conclude a peace treaty with Russia or provide major economic assistance unless Moscow recognises Japanese sovereignty over the islands which all Japanese were forced to leave.

Russia, keen to see Japanese money, wants to sign an interim "peace, friendship and co-operation treaty" and leave the resolution of the islands issue to a later, separate pact.

Japan has ruled out an interim deal and said a possible compromise involving the return of just two islands -- Habomai and Shikotan -- was equally unacceptable.

During Wednesday's talks, Putin said Russia would not accept a proposal Japan made in 1998 when Yeltsin held discussions with Hashimoto in the Japanese hot springs resort city of Kawana.

Under that proposal, Russia would keep temporary administration over the disputed islands as long as Moscow agreed to redraw a border to recognise them as Japanese territory.

In a 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration Russia had agreed to hand over two of the islands and promised to discuss the other two on conclusion of a peace treaty but the declaration was scrapped when Japan signed the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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