Warming up the Taiwanese case? Moscow hits Japan where it hurts
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia is no longer interested in negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Projects for visa-free visits by Japanese citizens to the four Kuril Islands and joint economic activities in this region are also being terminated.
All these measures were taken as a response to the restrictions against Russia imposed by the Japanese government.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev considers the decision on Japan “historically justified, overdue and fair.” He wrote about this in his Telegram channel.
“It is obvious that we would never have found any consensus with the Japanese on the island issue. Both we and they understood this before. So negotiations about the Kuril Islands have always been of a ritual nature. The new edition of the Russian Constitution directly states that the territories of our country are not subject to alienation. The question is closed.
The Japanese themselves, following the United States, showing themselves to be “proud independent samurai”, imposed sanctions against us, thereby finally demonstrating with whom they would agree on the hypothetical text of a peace treaty. Now these negotiations have lost all meaning,” Medvedev wrote.
He called on the Russian government to intensively engage in the development of the Kuril Islands.
Russia's decision caused a stir in Japan. Tokyo sent a protest to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The country's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called it "absolutely unfair and completely unacceptable" and expressed "severe protest."
“We are not changing our course towards solving the problem of the northern territories and concluding a peace treaty,” Kishida said.
The Japanese Embassy in Russia recalled that negotiations on the Kuril Islands were conducted within the framework of the adopted Joint Declaration of Japan and the USSR, which is an international obligation.
“The negotiations were conducted in a sincere manner based on the agreements reached between the leaders of the two countries, and the decision not to continue negotiations unilaterally on the part of Russia is extremely regrettable and completely unacceptable,” the embassy said.
Former DPR Defense Minister Igor Girkin (Strelkov) commented on the decision in his characteristic defeatist manner.
“Just to remind you that if the Russian Federation loses this war, then it will have to “pay and repent” not only to the so-called. “Ukraine”. There will be a whole crowd of people “queuing up for reparations.” And all “with justified historical and national claims,” Strelkov said.
Political scientist Marat Bashirov believes that the decision to end the negotiations was made in connection with the possible seizure of Taiwan by China.
“The warming up of the Taiwanese case has begun. Refusal to negotiate reduces the ability of the Americans (who have bases in Japan) to respond to China's actions regarding Taiwan. China doesn't necessarily need to launch a ground operation right away. It’s enough for him to organize a naval blockade and “close” the sky over Taiwan,” Bashirov wrote.
Previously, negotiations between Moscow and Tokyo were based on the Soviet-Japanese declaration of 1956, which provided for the transfer of the Habomai archipelago and Shikotan Island to Japan. However, after the adoption of amendments to the Russian Constitution in 2020, this became impossible. Navy ships recently sailed between the main Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.
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