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At a meeting with members of Government at the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin announced that so far the two sides “had not been able to reach an understanding of this extent – the way that we see it and saw it in 1956.”

In the Soviet-Japanese declaration that was signed in 1956 and ratified by the Supreme Council of the USSR and the Parliament of Japan, an agreement was made to give Japan the islands of Habomai and Shikotan after the signing of the peace treaty.

As the legal successor of the USSR, Russia recognises the Declaration of 1956 as valid, but Russian-Japanese dialogue is required to realise it.

Currently, Tokyo refuses to sign a peace treaty with Russia, saying that the territorial problem has not been regulated.