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Japan’s New FM Lands Igor Ivanov in Duma Dock
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Текст: Maria Tsvetkova Фото: Reuters
Soon after Russia’s foreign minister Igor Ivanov left Tokyo earlier this week, the Kuril Islands were hit by a minor earthquake. The islanders and the local wildlife were not the only ones to feel the tremors. The shockwaves also reached 438 deputies in the State Duma in far-away Moscow. On Wednesday a Duma majority called upon Russia’s chief diplomat to answer one question: Is it true that the Russian leadership is planning to hand the Southern Kurils to Japan?
The State Duma has demanded Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to report to the house on the Kuril Islands issue on March 13 to explain the announcement by the freshly-appointed Foreign Minister of Japan Yoriko Kawaguchi that she and her Russian counterpart had reached a preliminary agreement on the transfer of the Southern Kuril Islands to Japan under a "two plus two" scheme.
It was deputy Nikolai Kolomiytsev of the Communist Party who initiated the motion to summon the foreign minister to the State Duma
Following his meeting with Kawaguchi, Ivanov said that talks with Japan on the Kurils issue would resume in March, but mentioned nothing about a preliminary agreement on the transfer of the Kuril Islands, Kolomiytsev noted. He therefore presumed that Ivanov had provided incorrect information.
Kolomiytsev also proposed that the Duma's committee for international affaires brief deputies on the "two plus two" option and alleged the Foreign Ministry is "conceding Russian territories behind parliament’s back”. “Russia is retreating in all strategic directions and losing its positions in Central Asia,” Kolomiytsev fumed. He also lamented about Russia’s recent withdrawal from radar facilities in Vietnam and Cuba.
The leader of the nationalist LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky backed Kolomiytsev, and added that it was "time to dismiss" Ivanov altogether.
Vladimir Semyonov of the Union of Right Forces tried to object, saying that this "delicate issue should be handled by the president and the Foreign Ministry.”
Deputy chief of the Duma's committee for international affaires, Konstantin Kosachyev, said that no official information on the Kuril Islands issue has been released and that foreign sources were cited in media reports on the issue.
232 Duma deputies voted in favour of summoning Ivanov to the lower house. A minimum of 226 votes was required for the approval of the motion.
Japan lost the Kuril Islands to Russia in the closing stages of World War II. However, an official peace treaty has still not been signed between the two nations and Japan insists it will not do so until Russia returns the four southernmost islands – Habomai, Shikotan, Etorofu and Kunashir.
Although the Southern Kurils are of little strategic importance to Russia, there are fears in Russia that if the islands, or Northern Territories as they are called in Japan, are conceded, a flood of territorial claims from Russia’s other neighbouring states will follow.
Under the so-called ‘two plus two scheme’ elaborated by Japan’s former premier Yoshiro Mori, the transfer of Habomai and Shikotan should be discussed separately from Kunashir and Etorofu.
According to the scheme, Japan would agree to sign a peace treaty after Shikotan and Habomai are returned. Talks about the other two islands would then begin.
However in her statement Ms.Kawaguchi claimed that Ivanov had agreed to launch “simultaneous and parallel” talks on the status of all four of the disputed islands.
Despite apprehensions about further territorial claims from other states, it is known that the Russian leadership is in principle prepared to sacrifice Shikotan and Habomai islands for the sake of a peace treaty with Japan. Russia is extremely keen to attract more Japanese investment.
Shikotan, which covers an area of just 253 square metres, has not been fully restored after a powerful earthquake in 1999, and since been being hit by a tsunami in 1953 Habomai is a ridge of solitary rocks, inhabited by a small unit of frontier guards.
Nonetheless, the Japanese would be happy to have Habomai back, especially since the waters washing its Signalnyi islet or Kaigar Island in Japanese, are rich with sea kale.
Under a current non-governmental accord, Japanese schooners are already allowed to gather seaweed in the island’s waters.
Kunashir and Etorofu are a different issue. The village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk is situated on Kunashir. The town has been restored twice since the war after being devastated by a tsunami and an earthquake, both times in a new location.
Of all disputed islands Etorofu is the most populated with some 8000 inhabitants. Both islands are known for their remarkable nature. There are volcanoes, hot wells (thermae), and picturesque waterfalls and rivers. According to Japanese researchers, Kunashir is inhabited by very rare species of owl and is also home for some 2650 sea beavers.
Russia has never said it would be prepared to cede those two islands to Japan.
Thus, even if the parties did tentatively agree to continue talks on the Kurils issue in March, most likely that agreement was informal, and by making her announcement the head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry only scared off her Russian colleague.
Reportedly the residents of the Sakhalin Region, of which Russian Kurils are a part of, were deeply concerned by Ms.Kawaguchi statement and on Wednesday they held a demonstration in view of the parliamentary debates on the issue scheduled for March 18.
Local activists began gathering signatures for a petition against the transfer of the Southern Islands to Japan and have set up a website for opponents to the handover of the islands to send letters to President Putin, to the State Duma and to the Foreign Ministry of Russia.
As yet the islanders appear not to have enlisted the support of the first vice speaker of the Federation Council, Valery Goreglyad, who also represents the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Region in the upper house.
07 ФЕВРАЛЯ 18:14
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