The Japan-Russia talks on the Northern Territories are deadlocked. Shortly after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union seized four islands or islet clusters northeast of Hokkaido -- Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomai. In 1993, the two nations issued a joint statement calling for the conclusion of a peace treaty once the territorial claims involving the "northern four islands" were settled. The Tokyo Declaration, as the statement is known, provides the basis for the talks.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently expressed a desire to reach a final settlement in which only Shikotan and Habomai would be handed over, citing the 1956 Japan-Soviet communique as a supporting precedent. In clashing head-on over this issue earlier this month, the Japanese and Russian foreign ministers failed to fix a date for Putin to visit Japan this year.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the 1855 Japan-Russia Amity Treaty, which established the border -- between Urup at the southern tip of the Kuril Islands and Etorofu, the northernmost of the four islands. This year is also the centennial of the Russo-Japanese War. Whether the two nations can become "strategic partners" depends on whether Russia returns to the negotiating table under the Tokyo Declaration.