It is impossible to hold any peace talks with Japan, with Tokyo imposing sanctions and providing military assistance to Kyiv, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, TASS reports.
"Naturally, no talks on a peace agreement are deemed possible in these circumstances," Peskov said, when asked to comment on any potential negotiations with Tokyo.
The Russian presidential spokesman regretted that Japan "has taken its place firmly by the side of a group of unfriendly countries and has itself turned into an unfriendly country towards which we have activated an appropriate regime."
In a policy speech at a plenary session of the lower house of Japan’s parliament earlier on Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged that the Japanese government would continue to pursue a policy aimed at resolving the territorial issue and concluding a peace treaty with Russia. However, he warned, Tokyo would stick to its sanctions against Moscow and continue to support Kyiv.
Moscow and Tokyo have been in talks on a peace treaty based on the results of World War II since the middle of last century. Their dispute over the sovereignty over the southern part of the Kuril Islands has been the main stumbling block. After World War II, the whole archipelago was taken over by the Soviet Union, but Japan still claims sovereignty over Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Moscow’s sovereignty over those has a firm international legal basis to rely on and is indisputable.
