L'AQUILA, Italy (Kyodo) Moscow intends to negotiate with Tokyo on the territorial dispute over Russian-held islands off Hokkaido on the basis of the 1956 Japanese-Soviet joint declaration, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev indicated Friday.
The declaration, signed in Moscow in the midst of the Cold War, stipulated that Shikotan Island and the Habomai islets would be returned to Japan after a peace treaty is concluded between Japan and the Soviet Union.
In a news conference held after the three-day Group of Eight summit in the central Italian city of L'Aquila, Medvedev described the declaration as "the only legal document" to fall back on in negotiating with Japan over the territorial row.