The political scientist assessed the prospects of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan

Tokyo's statement on its readiness to conclude a peace treaty with Moscow does not change the current situation in the negotiation process. On February 20, political analyst Alexander Asafov told Izvestia.

According to him, the topic of the peace agreement has been discussed for several decades and periodically returns to the public agenda. The expert also noted that such statements had already been made before and did not indicate progress in the negotiation process.

Asafov pointed out that in order to conclude the treaty, Japan needs to abandon a number of claims against the Russian Federation, which Moscow perceives as contrary to the Constitution. According to him, it is difficult to talk about real progress without reviewing these positions.

"Nevertheless, we will remember that Japan is under a significant share of external control from the United States. In many ways, it is the first to test various sanctions instruments on Russia. For example, she was the first to ban and impose sanctions on the supply of various medical products," he said.

He stressed that the positions of the parties on key issues are already known, and if there is political will, possible parameters of the agreement can be formulated and put up for discussion. In the meantime, the expert believes, the situation remains unchanged.

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On the same day, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated that the Japanese government's position on the desire to resolve the "territorial problem" and conclude a peace treaty with Russia, despite the difficult state of bilateral relations, remains unchanged.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that there is currently no dialogue between Moscow and Tokyo. According to him, Russia has never been in favor of ending contacts — the dialogue was interrupted at the initiative of Tokyo.

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