Russia 090423 Basic Political Developments

Russian, Armenian leaders to talk energy, N. Karabakh conflict

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090423/121256608.html

MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan near Moscow on Thursday to discuss energy cooperation and the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, a Kremlin source said.

The agenda for the talks at the presidential residence at Zavidovo, will include "a broad range of issues in Russian-Armenian relations, measures to overcome the negative consequences of the global financial crisis, the Caucasus situation and topical international problems," the source said.

"Great attention will be paid to the issue of energy cooperation," he said.

A landlocked mountainous Caucasus state, Armenia is dependent on Russia for its gas and nuclear fuel supplies. Major Russian companies, including Gazprom, have energy projects in Armenia.

The talks will also focus on "boosting cooperation in trade and the economic sphere," the source added.

Trade between Armenia and Russia reached around $900 million in 2008, a 9.5% increase, year-on-year. Russia invested over $1.8 billion in Armenia's economy, mainly in energy, banking, mining and the construction sectors.

Russia signed an agreement with Armenia in February to grant a $500 million loan to the country to provide assistance during the financial crisis.

The presidents will also discuss the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh, the source said adding: "Moscow plans to provide further assistance to Baku and Yerevan to search for mutually beneficial decisions."

The armed conflict in Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian population, first began in 1988. The region declared its independence from Azerbaijan in late 1991 at a referendum and has been a source of conflict ever since. A ceasefire was signed in 1994.

Japan PM says he does not back agt with Russia on Kurils division

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13866369

TOKYO, April 23 (Itar-Tass) - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday disproved allegations that he is for reaching an agreement with Russia on the division of the Southern Kurils and signing of a peace treaty on its basis. Answering a question at a committee in the lower house of parliament, he also rejected the authorship of the concept of the “original unconventional approach” to the territorial dispute with Russia.

He said that in his view, the main thing is the settlement of the issue of the ownership of all the four islands. “When we settle it we will be able to decided what to do at talks with Russia. This is a consistent stance of the Japanese government,” Aso noted.

Tokyo has repeatedly stated that the settlement of the issue of ownership of the Southern Kurils may be only one – recognition of Japan’s sovereignty over them. After that the country’s government says it will be ready to display a flexible approach to the forms and time of the territories’ transfer. In particular, there is an officially expressed variant envisaging preservation of the Russian administration there for some time, Moscow had rejected this proposal back in the late 1990s.

Answering a question of a parliamentarian Aso also stated on Thursday that he has never proposed to hold the talks based on the “original unconventional approach.” According to him, this term is used by the Russian side.

The Japanese prime minister called a “misunderstanding” the recent publication by a Tokyo-based newspaper of an interview by the government’s special envoy and former Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi who urged to drop claims for the Southern Kurils. In the view of Yachi, the islands should be divided in half by the area. However, the prime minister said on Thursday that Yachi later explained that he was misunderstood.

The Kyodo news agency reported that on Monday, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone reprimanded former Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi for his reported remarks regarding the disputed islands claimed by both Japan and Russia.

Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka told reporters that Nakasone issued a verbal warning to Yachi, who called for the return of “3.5” of the Russian-controlled four islands off Hokkaido rather than the reversion of all of them in a recent interview with the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

According to Yabunaka, Nakasone made a telephone call earlier in the day to Yachi, who currently is a government envoy on key diplomatic issues and is staying in the United States, and asked for an explanation about the interview published in the daily’s Friday morning edition, Kyodo reported.

Yachi told Nakasone during their telephone conversation that he did not actually say that the return of “three and a half” is acceptable but that there might have been some remarks in the interview that caused misunderstanding, according to Yabunaka. Yachi also said it is deplorable that he brought about misunderstanding among people concerned, Yabunaka told reporters.

Tokyo has been calling for control of all four islands - Kunashiri, Etorofu (Iturup), Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils. The territorial row has kept the two countries from signing a post-World War II peace treaty.

According to Kyodo, in the interview Yachi indicated it would be enough for Japan if the country regains control of Shikotan, Kunashiri and the Habomai islets plus half of Etorofu, which provides the largest share of the total acreage of the four islands. Yabunaka said the Foreign Ministry would not impose any further punishment on Yachi over the matter.

Yabunaka, meanwhile, emphasized that the government will stick to its longstanding policy of not concluding a peace treaty with Russia unless Japan's sovereignty of the four islands is confirmed, the agency reported. “It’s a serious problem if misunderstanding has been created (by Yachi), and negotiations on territorial issues should be proceeded prudently in light of national interest,” Yabunaka said.

Aso and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in their summit talks in February in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the capital of Sakhalin region, to intensify efforts to resolve the decades-old territorial issue by taking a “creative and unconventional approach.” However, tangible steps toward resolving the dispute remain to be seen.

In the interview, Yachi indicated it would be enough for Japan if the country regains control of Shikotan, Kunashiri and Habomai islets plus half of Etorofu, which provides the largest share of the total acreage of the four islands, according to Kyodo. The envoy also said the two countries should tackle the territorial dispute under a “big strategic framework” involving energy, environmental conservation and development projects in north-eastern Siberia under the “unconventional approach.” He also suggested designating the four islands as a non-military zone once the two countries strike a deal on the territorial row.

Russia maintains that all of the Kuril Islands, including the disputed islands of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai rocks, became a part of Russia as a result of World War II, that Russia’s rights to the islands are guaranteed by the international agreements including the Yalta Agreement and the Treaty of San Francisco, and that Russia has unquestionable sovereignty over these islands.

The positions of the two sides have not substantially changed since the 1956 Joint Declaration, and a permanent peace treaty between Japan and Russia still has not been concluded.

In Russia most of the population, as well as the mass media, strongly oppose any territorial concessions to Japan. A common view is that Russia won the Kuril Islands during World War II and is entitled to keep them regardless of the prior history of the disputed territories. Many believe that taking these islands away from Japan was a just reward for Russia’s sacrifices during World War II and for Russia’s agreement to enter the war against Japan at the request of its allies.

In Japan, there are various private groups cooperating with local and national government to encourage the Japanese people to push for the return of the islands. One man whose family was evicted from the islands, Kenjiro Suzuki, heads the Tokachi branch of the League of Chishima Habomai Islands Residents (Chishima is the Japanese name for the Kuril Islands). In 2008, the main organisation had a budget of approximately 187 million yen (1.7 million US dollars).

The modern Kuril Islands dispute arose in the aftermath of World War II and results from the ambiguities in and disagreements about the meaning of the Yalta agreement (February 1945), the Potsdam Declaration (July 1945) and the Treaty of San Francisco (September 1951). The Yalta Agreement, signed by the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, stated:

The leaders of the three great powers – the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Great Britain – have agreed that in two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe is terminated, the Soviet Union shall enter into war against Japan on the side of the Allies on condition that: [....] 2. The former rights of Russia violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904 shall be restored, viz.: (a) The southern part of Sakhalin as well as the islands adjacent to it shall be returned to the Soviet Union; [....] 3. The Kuril Islands shall be handed over to the Soviet Union.