Moscow has refused to negotiate a peace treaty with Japan due to earlier anti-Russian sanctions, the Foreign Ministry said.
"The Russian side does not intend to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty under the current conditions due to the impossibility of discussing the signing of a fundamental document on bilateral relations with a state that takes openly hostile positions and seeks to harm the interests of our country," the message on the Foreign Ministry's website reads.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that "all responsibility for the damage to Russian-Japanese cooperation" lies with Tokyo, which deliberately chose "an anti-Russian course instead of developing mutually beneficial cooperation and good neighborliness."
Russia stops visa-free travel by Japanese citizens to the southern Kuril Islands, withdraws from dialogue on establishing joint economic activities there, and also blocks the extension of Japan's status as a partner of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization in the sector dialogue.
After the start of the Russian special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, many Western countries announced large-scale economic restrictions against Russia, mainly against the banking sector and the supply of high-tech products. Many brands have also announced that they will stop operating in the country.
Japan has also imposed various sanctions packages. The restrictions affected dozens of officials and companies, as well as the export of hundreds of different goods. Furthermore, on March 16, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Russia's exclusion from the most favored nation in trade.
no peace treaty
Japan claims the Russian islands of Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup, and Khabomai, citing the 1855 bilateral Treaty on Trade and Boundaries.
In 1956, Moscow agreed to consider handing over Habomai and Shikotan after a peace agreement was reached. The Soviet side hoped to end the territorial disputes, but Tokyo did not give up claiming all the islands. As a result, the peace treaty was never concluded.
Moscow's position is that the islands became part of the USSR after World War II, and Russia's sovereignty over them is beyond question.
