Moscow: Officials to continue visits to Kuril Islands

Moscow said on Friday that Russian officials will continue their visits to Kuril Islands.

The remarks come at a time when Japan expects Russia “to be on the same page” in resolving the long time dispute over the islands.

In statements Friday, Russia's foreign ministry said that it will not take into account the Japanese stance on this issue, Novosti reported.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev "determines the routes of his trips around the country himself and needs no recommendations from outside," the premier’s spokesperson Natalya Timakova, meanwhile, told TASS on Friday in connection with Medvedev’s forthcoming visit to the Kuril Islands.

She thus commented on the remarks by the Japanese foreign minister who said that "if the trip took place, this would run counter to Japan’s stance on the four northern islands and would also hurt the feelings of the Japanese citizens, which was unacceptable."

The Kuril Island chain has long been the center of dispute between Russia and Japan, with both countries claiming each of them to their own, with no official peace treaty signed by the two nations after the Second World War.

In an effort to resolve the dispute, the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration was signed between the two countries in 1956, with Russia proposing to give back two of the islands close to Japan. Tokyo rejected the initiative and since then the dispute has remained unresolved.