MOSCOW. Feb 10 (Interfax) - The upcoming visit to Moscow by the Japanese foreign minister will not lead to significant progress in Russian-Japanese relations regarding the status of the Kurils Islands, Leonid Slutsky said, first deputy chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee.
"The forthcoming meeting between the Moscow and Japanese foreign ministers is unlikely to lead to serious progress on sensitive issues in bilateral relations," Slutsky told Interfax.
"Today one can definitely say that any substantial dialog with Japan over the Kurils is impossible in the near future," he said.
Starting from 1956, Japan has linked the signing of a post-World War II peace treaty with Russia with its claims to a number of southern islands in the Kurils Range. "For more than half a century Japan has been claiming back these islands, making this territorial claim a cornerstone issue and thus increasingly delaying prospects for the signing of a peace treaty with Russia," the Russian Duma deputy said.
Recently, the situation has taken "extremely ugly shapes," he said.
"Although, any 'letting off of steam' would be useful now, particularly after the so-called Northern Territories Day held in Tokyo last Monday, which has been regularly celebrated for the past few decades, as well as the inadequate, and, to put it mildly, undiplomatic statement by the Japanese prime minister during this celebration and the outrageous act of vandalism over the Russian national flag," Slutsky said.