Russia in 1992 secretly proposed returning to Japan two of the four islands it holds off Hokkaido before the conclusion of a peace treaty and to negotiate the fate of the other two, but Tokyo rejected the offer, a retired high-ranking diplomat has revealed.
Kazuhiko Togo, who was in charge of negotiations over the four islands through the end of 1991 as head of the Foreign Ministry's Soviet Union division, said in a recent interview that Moscow offered to return Shikotan Island and the Habomai islet group before a peace accord was inked to formally end World War II, and to then discuss how best to handle the sovereignty of Etorofu and Kunashiri.
All four isles were seized by Soviet forces at the end of the war.