Tensions overshadow 70th anniversary of key Japan-Soviet declaration

Tokyo – Monday marked the 70th anniversary of the signing of the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration, a document that stipulates the return of two of four disputed islands to Japan, as Russia has further hardened its stance on a territorial dispute between the two countries.

The declaration includes an agreement for Russia to hand over Shikotan and the Habomai group, after the two sides conclude a peace treaty that formally ends their World War II hostilities. The islands are part of what Japan calls the Northern Territories, a group of islands controlled by Moscow but claimed by Tokyo.

In 2018, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to use the 1956 joint declaration as the basis for peace treaty talks. Since the declaration made no mention of the other two islands, Kunashiri and Etorofu, Japan was viewed as shifting away from seeking the return of all four islands.

Now, even the return of Shikotan and the Habomai group is uncertain.

Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has suspended peace treaty talks in response to Japanese sanctions and asserted that the territorial dispute has been settled.

In August this year, Putin visited Etorofu for the first time since first taking office in 2000. The day before the visit, Putin was in Sakhalin in the Russian Far East for the first time in about 13 years, telling senior officers of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet that Moscow’s control over the disputed islands resulted from World War II and blaming Japan for the recent deterioration of bilateral relations.

The Putin administration has designated Japan as an unfriendly country because Japan joined Western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war. Moscow has also scrapped an agreement on visa-free exchanges involving the disputed islands.

Russia’s hard-line stance toward Japan is also seen as part of an effort to align itself with China, which has supported Russia amid the Ukraine war.

In a joint statement this May, Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping criticized what they referred to as Japan’s “new militarism,” a term that China has repeatedly used since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about a possible Taiwan contingency angered Beijing last year.

According to Dmitry Streltsov, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations who is familiar with Japan-related affairs, Japan-Russia relations are heavily influenced by the international situation, and positive progress in bilateral ties cannot be expected as long as the two countries remain on opposing sides.