What is changeless remain to be changeless

[Bob Miller]

During the final press conference at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), held in Vladivostok from September 4 to 6, 2019, a journalist from the Japanese broadcasting organization NHK made a question about the construction of a fish processing plant on the island of Shikotan, which is a part of the Russian Kuril Islands Chain. The journalist tried to find out the attitude of the Russian government to the Japanese protests against the construction of this plant.

According to a statement by the representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District, Y. Trutnev, Russia will continue to build new plants on the islands, because they are part of Russian territory. He also noted that «it is strange when someone protests against the construction of enterprises in our territories».

It is important to emphasize that the position of the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin to the ownership of the islands remains unchanged. Indeed, during the Forum, he noted that if the issue of the territorial affiliation of the Kuril Islands is considered from the point of view of 1945, «there are no questions».

Despite the fact that Russia and Japan continue to cooperate closely with each other in the trade and economic sphere, it is obvious that Moscow is not going to transfer islands rights to Tokyo.