RUSSIA, JAPAN TO HOLD ANOTHER CONSULTATION ON UPCOMING SUMMIT IN IRKUTSK








TOKYO, March 7, 2001 /From RIA Novosti correspondent Vyacheslav Bantin/--Foreign ministries of Russia and Japan have agreed to hold an additional consultation in Moscow on March 14 to discuss preparations for the March 25 bilateral summit meeting in Irkutsk. According to today's Japanese media reports, the purpose of consultations is to coordinate the agenda of the upcoming summit and decide on the contents of a joint statement that will be signed by two countries' leaders.


	The aforementioned issues were discussed at a March 5 consultation held in Tokyo on the level of foreign ministers. According to Russian deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, who talked to this RIA Novosti correspondent after the consultation, the conversation centered on issues that may surface at the summit. "We have discussed the possible contexts in which the parties may bring up the 1956 Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration," he said. Since the sides failed to reach an agreement on the subject, it was decided to hold an extra consultation in Moscow.


	The dispute between Russia and Japan dates back to the 1956 Joint Declaration, in which Moscow made a gesture of good will by expressing its readiness to pass on to Tokyo two lesser Kuril islands, Shikotan and Habomai, on condition the sides sign a bilateral peace treaty. However, later in 1956 Tokyo rejected the condition and demanded that the four South Kuril islands be handed over to Japan all at once.


	Nowadays, Tokyo regards the Shikotan and Habomai problem as "settled" since their handover is stipulated in the Joint Declaration, and intends to discuss the handover of two other South Kuril islands, Kunashir and Iturup. Moscow, on its part, believes this approach to be inappropriate it was Tokyo who refused to get Shikotan and Habomai back. Russia's position is that now, 45 years after the signing of the Joint Declaration, the sides need to have a thorough discussion of how to interpret the document under modern-day conditions.