There is no sense in holding peace talks with Japan as long as Tokyo holds radical views over the issue of the disputed South Kuril Islands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
A dispute over the islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan, has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to officially end World War Two hostilities. The islands were seized by Soviet forces at the end of the conflict.
The issue came to the fore again last in November after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Kunashir, the second-largest of the four islands.
On Monday, Japan's Northern Territories Day, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Medvedev's visit an "inexcusable rudeness." On the same day, Japanese ultra-right campaigners dragged the Russian flag along the ground outside the Russian Embassy in Tokyo. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the "unprecedented and disgusting act" was a result of Japanese policies and urged the Japanese government to "take all measures to prevent such anti-Russian actions."
"When radical approaches to signing a peace treaty take over in Japan...then talks have no prospects," Lavrov said, adding that Japan's moves had marred Russian-Japanese bilateral relations.
Lavrov also proposed establishing a commission of Russian and Japanese historians to settle the long-lasting disputes.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara criticized Lavrov's initiative, saying that experts had already discussed the issue, but he expressed doubt that "such a discussion will bring any benefit to either country."
MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti)
