OREANDA-NEWS Japan - in case of transfer of part of the Russian southern Kuril Islands to it  - will support that these territories were under its sovereignty. This was stated on Friday at a press conference in Tokyo, the Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers Yoshihide Suga.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on the results of the meeting in Singapore to accelerate the negotiation process on the basis of the joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration of 1956, assuming the possibility of transferring several Islands of the Kuril chain to Tokyo on certain conditions.

"In the case of the transfer of Japan Shikotan island, as well as Habomai (as in Japan called a number of small uninhabited Islands of the Small Kuril ridge), of course, we will confirm our sovereignty over them," Suga said, commenting on Putin's statement on the negotiations with Japan on a peace Treaty on the basis of a Joint Declaration.

Putin on Thursday said that this document is not fixed a number of points. In particular, it does not specify the basis for the transfer of the Islands, as well as under whose sovereignty the Islands will remain. According to the Russian leader, in this regard, negotiations on the basis of the Joint Declaration "require serious study".

On October 19, 1956, a Joint Declaration on ending the state of war between the two States and restoring diplomatic and consular relations was signed in Moscow. In the 9th article of the document, the Soviet government agreed to transfer to Japan the Shikotan Islands and a number of small uninhabited Islands of the Small Kuril ridge, on the condition that their actual transition under the control of Japan will be made after the conclusion of a peace Treaty. The Declaration was ratified by both States on 8 December 1956.

However, in response to the conclusion of the Japanese-American security Treaty in 1960, the USSR cancelled the obligation to transfer the Islands. The aide-Memoire of the Soviet government of 27 January 1960 States that these Islands will be transferred to Japan only on condition of the withdrawal of all foreign troops from its territory.