OREANDA-NEWS. The Japanese government will respond appropriately to the opening of a new fish processing plant on Shikotan Island. This was announced at a regular press conference on Thursday by Secretary General of the Cabinet of Japan Yoshihide Suga.

"We are aware of the relevant information. Including the submission, we will respond appropriately. In any case, there are no changes in the legal position of our government. We believe that in order to fundamentally solve this problem, it's necessary to solve the problem of the northern territories. In this regard, we will continue close negotiations with the Russian side on the basis of our basic position - the solution of the territorial problem and the subsequent conclusion of a peace treaty, "he stressed. At the same time, Suga evasively answered the question of whether an official protest would be declared to the Russian side. “Including the performance, we plan to give a proper answer”, he repeated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum examined the exhibition of territories of the region’s leading development and watched the launch of a number of enterprises in the mode of video conferencing. In particular, the president was shown the new terminal of the Khabarovsk Airport, the new mining complex at the Vertikalnoye silver deposit in Yakutia, as well as a fish processing plant on the island of Shikotan.

For decades, Moscow and Tokyo have continued negotiations with a view to working out a peace treaty following the results of World War II. The main obstacle to this is disagreement over the rights to the southern part of the Kuril Islands. After the war ended, the entire archipelago was included in the Soviet Union, however, Japan disputes the belonging of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of adjacent small uninhabited islands.