| JRL HOME | SUPPORT | SUBSCRIBE | RESEARCH & ANALYTICAL SUPPLEMENT | |
Old Saint Basil's Cathedral in MoscowJohnson's Russia List title and scenes of Saint Petersburg
Excerpts from the JRL E-Mail Community :: Founded and Edited by David Johnson
#35 - JRL 2009-90 - JRL Home
Putin hints at Japan island dispute compromise, but says law on Russia's side
Interfax

Ulaanbaatar, 13 May: Russia's position on the problem of the South Kuril Islands is impeccable, but Moscow wants to build friendly relations with Japan, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

"We have an absolutely cast-iron legal position (on this issue)," Putin told journalists in Ulaanbaatar.

Asked if he saw legal grounds for ceding some of the islands to Japan, Putin said: "Any decent lawyer would always find some grounds, (but) this is a political issue."

He stressed that the legal position is stipulated by the San Francisco Peace Treaty. "That is not the question. The question is about building good-neighbourly relations with Japan, our important partner in the East," Putin said.

He noted that the two countries' economies complemented each other in a natural way and stressed the presence of common interests.

"We need to remove everything that stands in the way of developing our relations," Putin said.

Discussing the problem of the islands, Putin said that "such important and poignant issues cannot be resolved in a civilized manner by hostile sides" or counties having a malevolent attitude towards each other.

"Such issues can only be resolved by friends," he said.

It is precisely the development of cooperation with Japan in every field, Putin said, that will become "the basis making it possible to tackle issues concerning the signing of a peace treaty".

"As for the nature of this treaty and how it will be signed, this is, of course, a subject for talks," Putin said.

Speaking of his personal position on this issue, Putin said: "It would be wrong to get ahead of events. It has been agreed that Dmitriy Medvedev and the prime minister of Japan will meet on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Italy. Our specialists and experts, Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev and Japanese partners should be given an opportunity to prepare for this meeting."