Kuriles: resuscitation of the Kozyrev formula for the surrender of the Russian islands. Putin will give the South Kuriles to the Japanese before the end of the year
The Japanese diplomat sent by Abe to Ukraine as an ambassador is frank.
In an effort to convince the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin and the entire Russian people in fabulous prospects for our country in the event of the surrender of the South Kuril Islands to Japan, the Prime Minister of Japan S. Abe does not spare colors and artificial delights. We recall his speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September this year:
“This year, on May 25, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, I attracted the attention of the audience with the words: “Let's dream.” I then urged the audience to hopefully imagine what will happen in our entire region when permanent stability is restored between Japan and Russia ...
Northern Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, northern part Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Japan will then be able to become the main sea route of peace and prosperity, and the islands, which were once the cause of confrontation, will turn into a symbol of Japanese-Russian cooperation and open up favorable opportunities as a logistics hub, a stronghold. The Sea of Japan will also change, becoming a logistics highway.
And after that, perhaps, a vast macro-region controlled by free, honest rules will appear in China, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia - up to the countries of the Indo-Pacific region. And this region will be filled with peace, prosperity and dynamism…”
And so on and so forth.
And this is said by the head of state, who has declared to our country and is not going to lift illegal economic sanctions designed to further complicate the life of the people of Russia, to prevent its development. The head of state, considering, as the closest military ally of the United States, Russia as an enemy, which must be resisted in every possible way. Hearing such hypocritical speeches, right, it becomes embarrassing for Abe-san, and indeed for all the Japanese for frank insincerity and an attempt to achieve the desired goal with flattery and promises - to tear away from our country the Far Eastern lands that legally belong to it.
Recently, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine spoke about the true attitude towards our country Shigeki Sumi, who headed the diplomatic mission of the Country rising sun right after the "revolution of dignity" in 2014. In an interview (Ukrinform, Ukraine), he first said that, in response to the “annexation” of Crimea by Russia and the conflict in Donbas, “Japan imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation. I want to emphasize that at that time in Asia only Japan acted so decisively ... And Tokyo also began to provide assistance to Ukraine for a total of 1.86 billion US dollars. What this Japanese money went for, the ambassador does not specify, although it is quite possible that it was also used to wage war against the people of Donbass.
Insisting, contrary to facts and logic, on the alleged “forced” annexation of Crimea to Russia, the Japanese plenipotentiary states: “Firstly, the Japanese position is that it does not recognize and will not recognize in the future the “annexation” of Crimea, which Russia declared. Therefore, Japan will continue anti-Russian sanctions as long as the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia continues.”
Shigeki Sumi in Ukraine
Important confession. Considering that Crimea has “returned to its native harbor” forever, the ambassador reports that his government, that is, the Abe cabinet, is by no means going to reconsider the decision on sanctions against Russia. How can one not recall the ironic remark of Russian President V. Putin that Tokyo imposed sanctions, apparently to "strengthen confidence between Japan and Russia."
But then the ambassador catches on, remembering, apparently, his boss's flirting with Moscow in the hope of getting the Kuriles. A clumsy justification follows: “The various actions of Russia against Ukraine, the issue of Crimea and the issue of Donbass should be separated from negotiations on the return of the Northern Territories. This is Japan's position. Friendly relations with Russia are needed precisely to resolve the issue of the Northern Territories, because Japan has been making efforts for this since the end of the Second World War ... "
Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for admitting that Tokyo needs "friendship with Russia" precisely for bargaining Kuril Islands. I hope that the Russian authorities will pay attention to this meaningful and very frank confession.
“Secondly, the Japanese position regarding Donbass is that it is occupied by so-called armed groups. Japan does not recognize this long-term occupation, and therefore does not recognize the so-called "elections" that took place there. This is the position of Japan, and we publicly declare it,” the ambassador said.
During the interview, it also became clear that at the Russian-Japanese talks at the top, Tokyo, in fact, is trying to blackmail Moscow, threatening to continue sanctions: “Despite friendly relations, if a friend does something bad, then we say that this is wrong. And if he does not give up his actions, then, of course, we do something so that he comes to his senses. Of course, Japan imposes sanctions against Russia not for sanctions. On the contrary, if Russia returns Crimea to Ukraine and fulfills the Minsk agreements in order to resolve the issue in Donbass, decides everything positively, then the sanctions will end. We clearly explain this to Russia.”
And not a word about the responsibility of Kyiv and its Western patrons, including Japan, for unleashing a fratricidal war in Ukraine.
Some in Russia emphasize that the sanctions announced by Japan to our country are supposedly “symbolic” and do not have a serious impact on trade and economic relations between the two countries. This is only partly true, if we recall, for example, the refusal of Japanese companies to buy Russian aluminum for fear of US dissatisfaction. However, much more sensitive for Moscow is the political position of "Shinzo's friend", who in everything agrees with the decisions of the "Big Seven" on policy towards Russia. And at the same time, he draws bright prospects for the future of Japanese-Russian prosperity, promising all sorts of benefits after the surrender of the Kuriles.
Matsuoka in the presence of I.V. Stalin, V.M. Molotov and A.Ya. Vyshinsky signs the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact. Moscow, April 1941
Seeing such, frankly, double-dealing policy, one again recalls the "exchange of courtesies" between Joseph Stalin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka in April 1941 during negotiations on a bilateral non-aggression pact.
From the transcript of the negotiations: “...Matsuoka declares that he had an instruction that talked about the sale of Northern Sakhalin, but since the USSR does not agree, nothing can be done.
Tov. Stalin approaches the map and, pointing to Primorye and its outlets to the ocean, says: Japan holds in its hands all the outlets of the Soviet Primorye to the ocean - the Kuril Strait at southern cape Kamchatka, the La Perouse Strait south of Sakhalin, the Tsushima Strait near Korea. Now you want to take Northern Sakhalin and seal up the Soviet Union altogether. What are you, says Comrade. Stalin, smiling, want to strangle us? What kind of friendship is this?
Matsuoka says that this would be necessary to create a new order in Asia. Besides, says Matsuoka, Japan has no objection to the Soviet Union going through India to warm sea. In India, Matsuoka adds, there are Hindus that Japan can lead so that they don't get in the way. In conclusion, Matsuoka says, pointing to the USSR on the map, that he does not understand why the USSR, which has a huge territory, does not want to cede a small territory in such a cold place.
Tov. Stalin asks: why do you need the cold regions of Sakhalin?
Matsuoka replies that this will create calm in the area, and in addition, Japan agrees to the USSR's access to the warm sea.
Tov. Stalin replies that this gives peace to Japan, and the USSR will have to wage war here (points to India). It doesn't fit.
Further, Matsuoka, pointing to the region of the southern seas and Indonesia, says that if the USSR needs anything in this region, then Japan can deliver rubber and other products to the USSR. Matsuoka says that Japan wants to help the USSR, not interfere.
Tov. Stalin replies that taking Northern Sakhalin means interfering with the life of the Soviet Union.
To paraphrase the leader's statement, it is high time to say directly to Abe-san: "To take the Kuril Islands means to interfere with Russia's life."
16:09 — REGNUM
A TASS message came from Japan stating that Tokyo rejects the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to sign a Russian-Japanese peace treaty in the near future without any preconditions.
“Negotiations will not be held on the basis of President Putin's statement. We have confirmed this through diplomatic channels." , - the Sankei Shimbun newspaper quotes on its website the words of an unnamed representative of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
We are talking about the public appeal of the Russian President to the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe when both leaders took part in the September Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Then it was said:“Let's conclude a peace treaty, not now, but before the end of the year, without any preconditions. And then, on the basis of a peace treaty, as friends, we will continue to resolve all controversial issues. And it seems to me that this would make it easier for us to solve all the problems that we have not been able to cope with for 70 years.”
Recall that what was proposed is very similar to the content of the fundamental document defining earlier Soviet-Japanese, and now Russian-Japanese relations, the Joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration signed by the governments and ratified by the parliaments of the two countries in 1956. In the 9th article of the declaration, the leadership of the USSR found it possible to note in the document that the Soviet Union, meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer of the Habomai Islands and the Shikotan Islands to Japan, however, that in fact the transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the conclusion of a peace treaty between the parties.
Although the then Japanese government was ready to sign a peace treaty on these terms, the United States, which did not want a complete normalization of Soviet-Japanese relations, maintained the actual occupation of Japan, opposed this. The US State Department and personally its head John Dulles forced the Japanese, in violation of the provisions of the declaration, to arbitrarily expand their territorial requirements, extending them to the largest and most developed islands of the Great Kuril ridge - Kunashir and Iturup, which the USSR never gave consent to transfer to Japan.
The current president of Russia, who has been making it clear to the Japanese for many years that he agrees to consider only the option of resuscitation above the indicated 9th article of the Joint Declaration, never even named these islands. Most likely, even now, speaking about the inclusion of a clause on “disputable issues” in the text of the peace treaty, he had in mind precisely and only the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge (Khabomai and Shikotan).
This is not enough for the Japanese, they are committed to the obviously unrealistic principle of "returning either all the South Kuril Islands, or nothing." This was confirmed yesterday by the reappointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Taro Kono, stating:“As for Russia, we will continue to seek a solution to the problem of the return of the northern territories (Islands Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Khabomai - A.K.) and the conclusion of a peace treaty. To solve it, Japan is developing joint economic activities with Russia in the southern Kuriles.
Thus, it is confirmed that for Tokyo the notorious "joint economic activity in the northern territories(that is, on allegedly Japanese lands) ”is not a mutually beneficial business, as is served in our country, but pure politics with the aim of infiltrating the Kuril Islands and leading to their rejection.
The refusal of official Tokyo to seriously analyze the proposal of the Russian president, some Japanese publications note, may deprive Japan of hopes of receiving the islands of the Lesser Kuril chain promised by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, encourage Moscow to take an even colder attitude towards negotiations on the “territorial issue” and contribute to further rapprochement Russia with China. And there is a lot of truth in these warnings, because almost 90 percent of our people do not accept the idea of concluding a peace treaty with Japan at the cost of the Kuril Islands. And the Russian leadership, one must understand, knows this very well.
16:12 — REGNUM
For two days now, the Russian media have been vying to comment on a small publication in the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, attributing to it a message about the alleged consent of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to sign a peace treaty with Russia, limiting itself to receiving only the Habomai island ridge and the Shikotan Islands as part of the Japanese state. But in the Japanese article it is written not quite like that, or rather, not at all like that. The phrase taken out of context, according to the recognition of my old acquaintance of a journalist working at Mainiti, is indeed not very clear.
But even so, from it does not follow that Abe renounced claims to the largest and most developed islands of the Greater Kuril ridge - Kunashir and Iturup. Literally, the article says:
“I mean the idea to start with the confirmation (by Putin - A.K.) of the Joint Declaration of 1956, which provides for the transfer of Habomai and Shikotan after the conclusion of the peace treaty, and then - followed by a word that in this case is not entirely clear - to fill in or supplement ( apparently, an agreement) on the issue of ownership of two more islands - Kunashir and Iturup.
In any case, reports that we are talking about signing a peace treaty on the basis of an agreement 62 years ago are, to put it mildly, inaccurate. For the Japanese side, according to this “new plan”, does not refuse Kunashir and Iturup at all, but, in fact, is trying to revive the “idea” of the Yeltsin-Kozyrev Foreign Ministry about the surrender of the southern Kuriles, as it were, in installments - first Habomai and Shikotan, and then after some time - and Kunashir and Iturup. And although the formula for surrendering the Kuriles, “2 plus alpha”, developed in the depths of the then Russian Foreign Ministry, is not mentioned in the articles of the Russian media now, I quite clearly feel that Tokyo’s intention is to implement just such a formula for obtaining all the South Kuril Islands.
Why did it take a confirmation of Putin's commitment to resolve the "territorial problem" with Japan on the basis of the 1956 agreements? The fact is that his proposal to drop the preconditions and conclude a peace treaty before the end of the year was perceived in Japan, among other things, as the president’s intention to return to the Soviet position that the territorial problem had already been resolved and it did not exist in bilateral relations. This frightened those forces in Japan who believe that Putin is ready to give up Habomai and Shikotan, but we must not cheapen and continue trying to achieve the “return” of Kunashir and Iturup as well.
For in Tokyo they know that the position of the Russian president regarding the harassment of Japan can change and not always in favor of Japan. Here they remember and quote Putin's statement, made by him on September 27, 2005, during the TV Direct Line. Then it was said with all certainty that the Kuril Islands
"are under the sovereignty of Russia, and in this part she does not intend to discuss anything with Japan ... This is enshrined in international law, this is the result of the Second World War."
The statement then had the effect of a bombshell in Japan. Tokyo was baffled that Putin's remark did not even mention the so-called "compromise option" over Habomai and Shikotan. Is it fear of repetition Russian President these just words makes Prime Minister Abe seek confirmation by him at all costs of agreement to consider the conditions of 1956 as valid to this day?
There is not long to wait - the next meeting of the leaders of the two neighboring countries in Singapore is scheduled for tomorrow. In any case, the hasty claims of the Russian media that "Abe only agrees to two islands" will hardly be confirmed, because such a decision would be akin to political suicide for the Japanese prime minister. Yes, and the Russian side will not be satisfied with a peace treaty with the recognition of the unresolved issue of the ownership of Kunashir and Iturup, as suggested by some Japanese politicians and diplomats.
We have such a sad experience in the history of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. Forty years ago, when the Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed at the suggestion of the then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, the territorial issue around the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku) between the two countries was “frozen” for 20-30 years. How it ended, there is no need to explain. Now these islands have turned into a "hot spot" of the planet threatening armed conflict, and ways to reduce tension around these islands are not yet visible. The seriousness of the situation is aggravated by the fact that the Japanese government has obtained US consent to "defend Senkaku", and military maneuvers are already underway based on the "liberation of the islands captured by the enemy" scenario.
I would like the leaders of Japan and Russia to take into account this experience and not lay such "time bombs" for the generations of our children and grandchildren.
Tokyo — Moscow
