OREANDA-NEWS Japan will open a new era in relations with Russia, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a keynote speech in Parliament. "Based on the relationship of trust between me and the President of Russia, we will solve the territorial problem and conclude a peace Treaty," he said.

In his opinion, the absence of a peace Treaty between the two countries is not normal.

Abe noted that the agreements reached during Vladimir Putin's visit to Nagato in 2016 are now being implemented. Then the parties signed about 80 documents, including on economic cooperation, visa facilitation, consideration of the possibility of joint economic activity on the four Islands of The southern Kurils.

"For the second year the former inhabitants of the Islands (Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai) can visit the graves of ancestors, arriving on the Islands by plane, we have begun work on the implementation of joint economic activities", — said the Japanese Prime Minister.

Last week, Putin said that in order to conclude a peace Treaty with Japan it is necessary to increase the level of trust. However, this is possible only after solving the territorial problem, the Russian leader said.

The dialogue between Russia and Japan overshadows the absence of a peace Treaty for many years. Japan claims the Islands of Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup, and Habomai, citing a bilateral Treatise on trade and borders of 1855. The return of the Islands to Tokyo set a condition for the conclusion of a peace Treaty with Russia, which at the end of the Second World War was never signed.

In 1956, the USSR and Japan adopted a joint Declaration in which Moscow agreed to consider the possibility of transferring Habomai and Shikotan after the conclusion of a peace agreement, the fate of Kunashir and Iturup was not affected. The USSR hoped that the document would put an end to the dispute, for Japan it was only part of the solution to the problem. Subsequent negotiations did not lead to anything.

Moscow's position is that the southern Kuriles became part of the Soviet Union following the Second World War, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has an appropriate international legal form, is beyond doubt.

In September, Putin proposed that Japan conclude a peace Treaty before the end of the year without any additional conditions. He proposed to write in the text of the document the desire of Moscow and Tokyo to settle disputes on the territorial issue.