Japan's Motegi meets Russia's Lavrov and offers steps to solve island row
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has proposed "concrete steps" to Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to resolve a long-standing territorial dispute, the minister has said. Motegi did not say what the steps were, but told reporters he invited Lavrov to visit Japan soon to continue negotiations aimed ...
Abe vows at disputed-isles rally to push talks on signing peace treaty with Russia
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to visit Moscow in May to attend a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of Russia's victory over Germany in World War II and to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, a Japanese government source said Friday. Japan and Russia ...
Russia slams Japan's National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday criticized exhibits displayed at Japan's National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty, which reopened last week. Summoning a representative from the Japanese Embassy in Moscow, Russia conveyed the criticism about the exhibition of items related to four Russian-held islands off ...
Russia releases Japanese fishing boat seized in waters off disputed islands
Russia has released a Japanese fishing boat seized last week in waters off islands claimed by Japan after confirming that a fine had been paid. The boat returned to Nemuro in Hokkaido on Monday evening from Kunashiri, one of the disputed islands called the Northern ...
Gorbachev agreed to address islands dispute in 1988 with Nakasone: declassified records
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged the need to resolve the dispute with Japan over the sovereignty of a group of islands off Hokkaido in a 1988 meeting, diplomatic records declassified Wednesday show. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone elicited the response from Gorbachev when he ...
Russia releases five Japanese fishing boats seized off Hokkaido
Russia on Tuesday released five Japanese fishing boats seized in waters near Russian-held, Japan-claimed islands in mid-December. The release came after the crews of the boats paid a fine of some 6.4 million rubles (¥11 million) ordered by a Russian court Monday for violating regulations ...
Putin says Japan's security alliance with U.S. remains a stumbling block for postwar peace treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Japan's security alliance with the United States continues to pose a threat, suggesting it remains a stumbling block to the signing of a postwar peace treaty between Tokyo and Moscow. Putin said at an annual year-end news conference ...
Russian border security authorities seized five Japanese fishing vessels Tuesday and took them to the island of Kunashiri, one of the disputed Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, the Japanese government said. The seizure of the boats, which were operating under a bilateral agreement on fishing around ...
Japan Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi to visit Moscow next week for talks on peace treaty
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday he will make a five-day trip to Moscow next week to hold peace treaty talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. The trip from Dec. 17 will be Motegi's first visit to Russia since a September Cabinet reshuffle in ...
Japan skirts question about possibility of SDF dispatch to Russian-held islands off Hokkaido
The government has skirted a question about the possibility of sending Self-Defense Forces troops to four Russian-held isles off Hokkaido that are at the center of the two countries' territorial dispute. In a document adopted at a Cabinet meeting Friday, the government said it is ...
Japanese tourists return early from visit to Russian-held islands off Hokkaido
Japanese visitors returned to Hokkaido on Saturday from a shortened trip to two of four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan due to expected bad weather. "The nature was fantastic and it was an enormously valuable experience," said Mamoru Takahashi, a 79-year-old Tokyo resident who with ...
Japanese tourists' trial tour of Russian-held islands off Hokkaido begins
Japanese tourists on Wednesday began a visit to two disputed Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, as part of joint economic activities by the Japanese and Russian governments that are intended to build trust. The five-day trial tour by 44 people including government officials will take participants ...
