A member of the Committee on International Affairs and the LDPR faction, Anton Morozov
Anton Yurieviсh
, said this in an interview to ”Duma TV“. The parliamentarian commented on the statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov that the Russian Federation and Japan are starting negotiations on a peace treaty.
“Russia's position remains immutable – we are ready to conclude a peace treaty but without any preconditions. That is, economic, cultural, scientific, and technical issues can be discussed, we will support any interaction, except for the issue of violation of the Russian territorial integrity,” he said.
Anton Morozov underlined that the issue of the Kuril Islands is a matter of principle for the Russian side.
“From the parliamentary angle, we see as a matter of principle to maintain the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and preserve those territories that were acquired by the Soviet Union as a result of the World War II. (…) For us, this is a “red line”, we are not considering the issue of changing sovereignty over the Kuril Islands,” said the parliamentarian.
The parliamentarian also noted that Japan is an important partner for Russia in the Far East. “We have very close economic ties, we have a lot of investment projects being implemented upon the initiative of the Japanese side, and cultural ties are at a high level,” he explained.
Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov launched the negotiations on the conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan. The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this at a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Tarō Kōno.
