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The key factor in the negotiations as portrayed by the media are the southern Kuril Islands, which the Japanese acquired from an agreement with the Russian Empire in 1855. The Soviet Union however took the islands back near the end of WWII. The fate of the islands today and the lack of any sort of formal end to the conflict between Japan and the Soviet Union is very much linked to the last months of the largest war in human history.

Although it is often unmentioned in the West, the Soviet Union as part of its allied obligations pulled its forces east after the German capitulation and was able to utterly crush all Japanese forces in Manchuria within 11 days. The Red Army also managed to liberate the entire southern half of the massive Sakhalin Island in roughly two weeks.

After its capitulation and subsequent US occupation Japan was no longer really any sort of actor on the international stage. The power in Tokyo immediately became American at the moment of their surrender. This means that the actual negotiations would in reality be between the occupying US standing behind a weakening provisional government and the Soviet Union.

As part of some sort of official “surrender” the losing side usually has to sacrifice territory wealth, etc. in order to close the deal. Countries that lose wars, lose territory; Turkey, Austro-Hungary and Germany after WWI and Russia after it dropped out of said war are good examples.

So how could the US, who lost a lot of men and machine to take Japan, who had the atomic advantage, somehow sign a deal with the Communists that would give away a good chunk of the spoils of war? The US couldn’t do this and so “Japan” didn’t make any formal end to the war with Russia. Thus, nothing could be given to the Soviets for their victory.

Japan now is in exactly the same status as a non-actor as it was the day it surrendered to the United States. The nation is still under the bureaucratic yoke of the General MacArthur written/supervised constitution and is occupied by the United States with 50,000+ American soldiers on the small nation.

However, slowly over time, Japan has been trying to restore its sovereignty especially militarily. They have returned their marine corps for the first time since WWII (albeit in small numbers). They have also used amphibious vehicles on foreign soil for the first time since their big loss in the big war. This is important to note because like aircraft carriers, amphibious landing craft are for use on offense only. Japan is bound by its constitution to have only a small “Defense Force”. Strategically speaking you don’t need to make an amphibious assault on your own territory nor they detour enemy forces from attacking. There have also been numerous protests against US military bases being in Japan. So although Japan is exactly the same now as it was in 1946 on paper (roughly) the reality of the sovereignty of the nation is a much more grey picture. Recently Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said “Japan must stop trying to include the US in peace talks with Moscow and must abandon its territorial claims if it’s to make any progress”. If he was speaking literally this implies that Japan is actually a sovereign but weak actor trying to use the United States for an advantage. However, as we have discussed, despite the progress towards sovereignty Japan has made it may just be easier for Russia to negotiate directly with Washington regarding Japan without the Tokyo middlemen because any agreement made with Japan is one made also with the US.

As stated above the key focus of the negotiations for the Japanese side are the southern Kuril Islands which they feel are under “illegal occupation” by Russia. But one thing that is ignored by the media is that Japan has retained most of its pre-WWII territory. But for some reason the Japanese seem really only concerned with the Kuril Islands.

Palau and the Yap Islands were under the control of the Japanese since 1914. These islands were taken from tribal locals, much in the same way that the Russians and Japanese absorbed Sakhalin and the Kurils from tribal peoples. However, Japan for “some reason” does not seemed concerned with bringing Palau and the Yap Islands back home.

It looks like occupied Japan is specifically targeting only the former territory that is controlled by their occupier’s boogeyman. Palau and the Yap Islands would only really matter if they were controlled by Russia. This selective outrage is further evidence to the weakness of Tokyo as a sovereign actor. The objective is anti-Russian not pro-Japanese.

NOTE: The author has nothing against Japan trying to rise up and restore its culture and former glory. Nor is this anything personal against the Japanese themselves. The Japanese should not feel shame for their occupied status but instead the need to have it removed.

On November 22, the Russian Pacific Fleet's Boyevaya Vakhta (Combat Watch) newspaper reported that the systems installed on the islands of Iturup and Kunashir have entered into service, ensuring effective protection from landing operations and carrier-based aircraft strikes.

The Bastion fires the supersonic homing Onyx anti-ship missile designed to defend more than 600 kilometers of coastline against surface targets. It is able to operate under conditions of intense fire and radio-electronic countermeasures. The «fire-and-forget» missiles home in on their targets independently without any additional input from the firing crew. One fully-loaded unit carries 36 missiles.

Recently, the system has entered service with the all the operational fleets and strengthened coastal defenses in Crimea and Syria.

The Bal is armed with subsonic Kh-35 anti-ship missiles flying at low altitude and capable of striking sea and ground targets at the range of around 130 km, including ships with the displacement of up to 5,000 tons. It is also part of coastal defense in the operational fleets’ areas of responsibility.

Russia also plans to station new-generation Eleron-3 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) on the islands. The drones are capable of carrying up to 0.5 kilogram of cargo, which can include TV-, IR- and photo-cameras, as well as a radio repeater. The 3.5 kilogram aircraft can fly in both autonomous and radio command modes. The UAVs have been tested in the Arctic and Syria.

The upgrades of the 18^th machine gun artillery division responsible for the defense of the Kuril Islands also include re-equipping it with upgraded weapons systems, assigning a tank battalion on a permanent basis, and placing Pantsir, Tor, and Buk air defense systems, while providing infrastructure for the S-400 to be deployed there in times of crisis.

The Navy is studying plans to build a naval base on the islands. The service has been increasing its exercise tempo in the region with particular focus paid to honing the skills of attack helicopters crews. The air component of the islands’ garrison will include Ka-52K naval attack helicopters originally ordered for the Mistral ships. The rotary wing aircraft will be based on the Kamchatka Peninsula and deploy to the islands on a rotational basis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Japan on December 15-16. The agenda includes the dispute over the Kuril Islands. Moscow believes that the deployment of Russian missile systems should not influence efforts to settle the long-running territorial dispute between Moscow and Tokyo over this territory.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian defense ministry without doubt had grounds for deploying the missile systems, without giving any details. According to him, the deployment should not harm the relations with Japan before the visit, which includes discussions on the status of the islands and prospects for signing a peace treaty between the two countries.

In his latest statement on the issue made at the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok in early September, Vladimir Putin defined Russia’s position. According to him, even though Russian authorities saw signing a peace treaty with Japan as a priority, the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands would not be subject to revision. «We are not talking about some exchange or some sale», the president explained. «We are talking about finding a solution where neither of the parties would feel defeated or a loser».

The president stated that «we do not trade in territories», but Russia «would very much like to find a solution to this problem with our Japanese friends». If it «can reach a similarly high level of trust» with Japan as it now enjoys with China «then we can find some sort of compromise», Mr. Putin noted.

The steps aimed at strengthening Russia’s coastal defenses in the Pacific are part of the plans to develop military infrastructure on Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Island chain and in the Arctic zone by 2020.

The measures are taken against the background of tensions running high in the region. Russia and China are concerned over the US increasing military presence in Asia Pacific and the emerging arms race in the region to involve its allies. The ballistic missile defense (BMD) plans pose a special threat to the regional security. The US plans to deploy THAAD BMD system in South Korea. It makes Russia take countermeasures.

In view of the growing tensions as NATO intensifies its activities in Europe, Russia has also strengthened its coastal defenses in the Northern and the Baltic seas, as well as the Arctic. It is important to note that boosting defenses on the Kuril Islands is not an isolated event but a part of broader plans to enhance coastal defenses of Russian territory everywhere.

These measures are a response to the growing threats and are not aimed at anyone specifically. The systems stationed on Russian soil do not intimidate neighbors. After all, coastal defense missile systems are defensive, not offensive, weapons. No attack against other countries can be carried out with the help of coastal defense sites.

Unlike the US, in Asia-Pacific Russia does not deploy aircraft carrier strike group in the proximity of other states, it has no Army and Marine Corps contingents stationed in the forward areas, it has no vast defense infrastructure, especially air bases to host first strike capable aircraft, across the Pacific Ocean and it does not install BMD sites near other states’ borders. The only thing Russia does is taking steps to guarantee its security and they are limited to its national territory. Any state has a right for legitimate defense.

The leaders discussed the ways to bolster bilateral ties and resolve the decades-long territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands. Ukraine, North Korea, Syria, international terrorism and bilateral cooperation were also included in the agenda. The parties decided to renew the regular meetings in the 2+2 format at the level of defense and foreign ministers. An agreement was achieved to continue contacts between the two countries' security councils. Russia also supported Japan’s involvement in the task force on humanitarian issues in Syria. Japan was invited to take part in anti-smuggling exercise in the Pacific in July-August this year.

Many things were discussed confidentially behind closed doors.

As expected, there were no breakthroughs on the territorial dispute and peace treaty, though the parties said the discussions were constructive.

The issue of disputed islands is too hard to be solved in one fell swoop. It requires patience and agility. The Russian military watched the talks closely as it is considering different plans to bolster the area defense. It still has to make precise which island will host long-range anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles. The leaders of Russia and Japan agreed to negotiate the controversial issue in June at the level of deputy foreign ministers.

In 2013, Abe was the first Japanese leader to make an official visit to Russia in a decade, seeking to resolve differences and expand cooperation. This is the 9^th meeting of the two leaders since 2012 (when Mr Abe was reelected as PM) and the 13^th time the leaders meet, including the meeting held during Mr Abe’s first tenure (2006 to 2007). Two factors make the event especially symbolic. First, the 40^th G8 (now G7) summit was to be held in Sochi in June 2014. It was moved to Brussels after Crimea became part of Russia. Second, this is the second time the PM goes to Sochi. Unlike other Western leaders, including G8 members, he went to see the Sochi Winter Olympic Games at the time of Ukraine’s crisis to prove he was a skillful and farsighted diplomat.

The development of relations with Russia makes Japanese foreign policy more balanced and paves the way for participation in lucrative economic projects.

It must be emphasized that the importance of the May 6 Russia-Japan summit in Sochi goes much farther than the bilateral ties. It is the main event in the recent relationship between Russia and G7. The visit took place before the G7 summit slated for late May. Russia was the final stop of the PM’s foreign trip to include France, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain. The 42^nd G7 summit will be held on 26–27 May 2016 at the Shima Kanko Hotel in Kashiko Island, Shima, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Japanese PM wanted the Japan-Russia summit to precede the event as Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent a signal to Tokyo saying «The development of multi-planned dialogue with Japan is one of our foreign policy priorities. I’m counting on the planned visit of [Prime Minister] Shinzo Abe on May 6 to provide for the expansion of Russian-Japanese relations on the basis of mutual benefits and taking into account the interests of each other».

Shinzo Abe is the first leader of G7 group to visit Russia since March 2015 when President Putin met Italian PM Matteo Renzi. Unlike English speaking countries, Western leaders start to gradually intensify the contacts with Russia. German ministers are frequent visitors in Moscow. Last summer President Putin was invited to visit Expo-2015 in Milan. He used this opportunity to meet Pope Francis and pay a visit to ex-PM Berlusconi. Abe’s trip will be followed by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s visit next month to a showcase annual investment forum in Putin’s home city of St. Petersburg. 

This time, Mr Abe, America’s key ally in the Asia-Pacific, «stood tall and did it his way». He has rejected President Barack Obama’s request not to visit Russia, Kyodo reported Feb. 24.

In an interview with RIA-Novosti before the meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, Americans were secretly telling others, including the Japanese PM, not to visit Russia.

A year ago, on the eve of celebrations devoted to the 70^th anniversary of victory in WWII, the tactics worked. Shinzo Abe skipped the visit to Moscow. This time the importance of developing relations with Russia outweighed other reasons. Japan really needs the dialogue and Russia is ready to meet it half way. Both leaders have met three times during the recent two years. Abe was more than willing to meet Putin in New York at the UN General Assembly’s session last year.

A foreign policy success is important for the Japanese leader. The opposition has a good chance at the elections this autumn as the economy is stagnating. Moscow is important for balancing the relations between Japan and China. Besides, it has become harder for Washington to exert pressure on Tokyo as it cooperates with Moscow on Syria and openly says this cooperation is of great importance. But US pressure is still strong enough to make Japan postpone Putin’s visit to Tokyo initially agreed on in 2014. When it comes to setting the date, Tokyo behaves like the cat that loves fish but hates water. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed again his invitation to President Vladimir Putin to visit Japan without announcement of the date. The President and the Premier discussed the details of this invitation.

In his turn, Vladimir Putin invited Shinzo Abe to join the 2^nd Eastern Economic Forum that will be held in Vladivostok on September 2 and September 3.

The visit has finally put an end to US attempts to keep Russia isolated from G7. Its warnings have been ignored in favor of keeping the dialogue with Russia invigorated. The event testifies to the fact that the contacts between Russia and the leading world powers are on the rise and have good prospects for the future.

It gave rise to stormy reaction on the part of Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun lodged a protest to Russia and then cancelled the planned visit of its Foreign Minister to Moscow. Tokyo refers to the Kuril Islands as «Northern Territories» – Hoppo Ryodo. According to the Japanese official position, the land is subject to territorial claims, but no territorial dispute can be unilateral. Japan is the only one to see it as a controversial issue. Russia says there is nothing to talk about. According to its stance, the status of the Kuril Islands is clearly defined by Yalta conference (February 1945) and the Potsdam conference (the declaration was signed on July 26 same year) of the states that made up the anti-Hitler’s coalition those days. The attempts of Japan to tell Russia’s leaders how to behave on their own territory is nothing but interference into foreign country internal affairs.

This point of view is offered by the statement made by Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 22 as a response to the Japan’s reaction to the Prime Minister Medvedev’s working trip that included Iturup Island. It rebukes the Japanese Foreign Ministry for ignoring the lessons of history and says Japan continues to put into doubt the universally recognized results of the Second World War on the eve of the 70^th anniversary since its end. Such rhetoric puts into doubt the assurances of Japanese government stating that it respects the historic truth and the memory of dozens of millions people who lost their lives during the war in East Asia. The 70th anniversary since the Soviet Union’s victory over Japan is drawing near. Some researchers call it a peacemaking operation against the militarist Japan. The time is propitious to remember the events of those days, especially in view of the fact that some people suffer from the lapse of memory.

The Second World War did not end with the capitulation of Nazi Germany. Japan continued to fight against the United States, Great Britain and other allies of the Soviet Union in the Pacific. According to the estimates of Allied Command, the war in the Far East could have continued for 1,5-2 years to take away the lives of 1,5 million American and British servicemen. The USSR had to take the only right decision, no matter how difficult it was. In three months after the war with Germany ended, the Soviet Union joined the war against Japan responding to numerous requests of allies. Josef Stalin honored the commitments taken at Tehran and Yalta conferences.

On April 5, 1945, the USSR denounced the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact of 13 April 1941 letting Japan know it was next. The statement of the Soviet government said, that «The neutrality pact between the Soviet Union and Japan was concluded on April 13, 1941, that is, before the attack of Germany on the USSR and before the outbreak of war between Japan on the one hand and England and the United States on the other. Since that time the situation has been basically altered. Germany has attacked the USSR, and Japan, ally of Germany, is aiding the latter in its war against the USSR. Furthermore Japan is waging a war with the USA and England, which are allies of the Soviet Union. In these circumstances the neutrality pact between Japan and the USSR has lost its sense, and the prolongation of that pact has become impossible.»

For abstract principles some politicians, diplomats and historians criticize the Soviet government for denouncing the Pact. Let’s not go into details and recall numerous reasons to justify the act of denunciation. In many cases Japan openly deviated from the principle of neutrality. It went as far as to sink Soviet ships. Let’s just say that the leadership of the Soviet Union did not act in violation of international practice. It was not bloodthirsty by taking the decision to denounce the Pact, to the contrary, it sent an unambiguous signal to let the Japanese government know that the situation had drastically changed. Japan faced the prospect of waging a war against all the United Nations. It would have been more prudent to capitulate.

But Tokyo bit the bullet. It did not yield to reason after the leaders of the United States, Great Britain and China released the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945 (the USSR joined it on August 8, 1945). It said, «We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.» There was a faint hope to make Japan capitulate and evade more casualties. Alas! This failed to come true.

Then there was nothing left but to use force. On August 8, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. The Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation began on 9 August 1945 to rapidly defeat Japan's Kwantung Army and take hold of main objects in the north-eastern part of China and North Korea. The Soviet forces commenced the combat actions simultaneously on three fronts to the east, west and north of Manchuria: the Khingan-Mukden, the Harbin-Kirin and the Sungari Offensive Operations. This was performed by the Trans-Baikal Front, the 1st Far Eastern Front and the 2nd Far Eastern Front correspondingly under Marshals of the Soviet Union Malinovsky, Meretskov, and Army General Purkaev supported by the Pacific Fleet led by Admiral Yumashev, the Amur Military Flotilla, three air defense armies and the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army led by Marshall Khorloogiin Choibalsan. All the forces were under the specially formed Far East Command of the Soviet Union under Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky. The over 1,7 million strong Soviet-Mongolian force included around 30 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, over 5 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery guns, 5,2 thousand aircraft and 93 warships. The over one million strong Japanese occupation forces consisted of over 1200 tanks, 6,6 thousand of artillery pieces, 1,900 aircraft and over 30 warships and gunboats.

The Soviet forces masterly delivered a rapid strike. As the offensive started on August 9, the Soviet fronts attacked the enemy on land, in air and at sea. The front extended to over 5 thousand kilometers. The Pacific Fleet cut sea lanes used to supply the Kwantung Army and attacked Japanese naval bases in North Korea. The armor and mechanized units of Trans-Baikal Front and cavalry formations of Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Army were rapidly advancing. The Front included units that had acquired experience during the war against fascist Germany. The Soviet and Mongolian forces delivered crushing blows to break through Japanese strongly fortified positions along the Amur and Ussuri rivers and on the Greater Khingan Range. On the fourth day of the Manchurian Offensive Operation the units of the 6th Guards Tank Army under the command of Colonel General Andrei Kravchenko made it through the Greater Khingan to reach the Manchurian plains advancing deep into the positions of Kwantung Army before the main forces approached the mountain range. During six days of offensive the 1st Far Eastern Front advanced 120-150 km, the Trans-Baikal Front – 250-450 km and the 2nd Far Eastern Front – 50-200 km.

Emperor Hirohito signed the Imperial Rescript of Surrender on August 14. At that the Japanese leadership ordered the Kwantung Army to offer stiffer resistance to the Red Army having ceased the hostilities against the American-British forces. The Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet forces in the Far East Marshall Vasilevsky sent an ultimatum on August 17, 1945, to General Otsuzo Yamada, the commander of the Kwantung Army. It demanded to cease all hostilities against the Soviet forces at 12:00 on August 20 along the front, lay down arms and surrender. To expedite the Japan’s capitulation air-borne forces landed on August 18-27 in Harbin, Shenyang, Changchun, Kirin, Lushun, Dalian, Pyongyang, Hamhung and other key cities of China and Korea. On August 19, the Japanese command on the continent ordered to surrender unconditionally. The great success in Manchuria allowed the Soviet Command to launch an offensive on the South Sakhalin Island. On August 18, the Soviet forces launched the Kuril Islands Landing Operation. The forces included the elements of Kamchatka Defense Area and the ships of Pacific Fleet. As a result, by the beginning of September the troops captured the northern islands, including the Urup Island, while the Pacific Fleet'sNorthern Pacific Flotilla seized the islands lying to the south of it. The crushing blow delivered against the Kwantung group of forces in the Far East was one of the decisive factors contributing to the defeat of Japan. Its militarist policy and useless resistance led to the unnecessary loss of many lives and made inevitable the capitulation to the United Nations, the countries making up the anti-Hitler’s coalition.

These are the historic lessons the Russian Foreign Minister talked about in the statement mentioned above. They should not be forgotten by Japan. Sergey Lavrov called on Tokyo to abandon the attempts to review the international law and concentrate on constructive efforts to improve the atmosphere of the Russia-Japan relations and develop mutually beneficial cooperation. The question is – will Japan listen to the reasonable advice?

 The Khabarovsk trials did not draw as much response as the Tokyo War Crimes Trial which had been held a year before. The case of the former Kwantung army officers was considered by a war crimes tribunal of the Primorsk military district, and probably this is why very few people remember it nowadays. But this is the case worth paying our attention to since present-day Japanese politicians have inherited the ideology of appropriating somebody else's territories.

Twelve former members of the Japanese army were in the dock: General Otozo Yamada, former commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army; Lt-General Kajitsuka Ryuji, former chief of medical administration; Lt-General Takahashi Takaatsu, former chief of the veterinary service; Major General Kawashima Kiyoshi, former chief of Unit 731 biological and chemical warfare research unit; Major General Sato Shunji, former chief of medical service, 5^th army, as well as several other high-ranking army officials.

A war crimes tribunal that was dealing with that case knew that not only those twelve defendants were guilty of unleashing a bacteriological war. But the US authorities that were occupying Japanese islands at the time did not want to cooperate with the Soviet court and harboured many other war criminals.

Ishii Shiro, a microbiologist and Lt General of Unit 731, was one of them. According to the court, it was he who had come up with the idea of a bacteriological war. Since 1936 Shiro was heading a secret department for manufacturing chemical and biological warfare.

Two military units, number 731 (near Harbin) and number 100 (near Changchun) were formed on the territory of Manchuria that was occupied by the Japanese Kwantung Army. Those units were responsible for producing deadly bacteria and developing biological war strategy.

Unit 731 comprised 3,000 people. It was a kind of factory for producing plague-contaminated fleas (up to 300 kg per month). Unit 100 was responsible for spreading disease among cattle.

Ishii continued his experiments using bioweapons. He conducted field tests of germ warfare agents, and tried various methods of dispersion (via firearms, bombs, e.t.c.). His unit kept mice, rats which were used as sources of contamination.

But those secret units dealt not only with laboratory tests, they also conducted experiments directly during battles. At least three cases of massive use of biological warfare in 1940-1942 in Central China which causedepidemic plague and typhus outbreaks.

The two units tested their weapons on humans, mainly Chinese, Manchurian and Russian prisoners. Major General Kawashima Kiyoshi testified that 'at least 600 people died during the experiments each year'. He also said that if a prisoner was lucky to recover after deliberate contamination, he would be used in further experiments until he died.

At least 3,000 people were killed in gas cameras when the two units conducted their chemical tests.

Guilt was admitted by eleven defendants, while Lt-General Kajitsuka Ryuji admitted the charges partially. Some of the accused tried to justify themselves by saying that they were just fulfilling their superiors` orders.

At the time death penalty was abolished in the Soviet Union, four Generals were sentenced to 25 years in prison, while the rest faced between two and twenty years. In 1956, under Nikita Khrushchev, those defendants who were still serving their prison terms, were amnestied.

However, Soviet authorities were aware that many Japanese war criminals managed to escape punishment. Nobody knows what could have happened if the Soviet Army would not have launched its offensive in August of 1945. But since turning a blind eye on Japan`s barbarian policy could have led to new tragedies, Soviet ambassadors in Washington, London and Beijing addressed the governments of the US, Great Britain and China on taking joint measures to find and punish the masterminds behind those barbarian crimes. The names of Japanese Emperor Hirohito, General Ishii Shiro, Lt General Kitano Masadzo and some other high-ranking army officials harbored by the US were on the wanted list. Moscow came up with an idea of starting a new series of international court hearings on the case. Copies of notifications were also delivered to Australia, Burma, Holland, India, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan and France.

But the initiative was not widely supported. The Americans received from Japan secret data on biological warfare and responded with guaranteed immunity from prosecution. At the end of 1949 a commission for early release supervised by US Gen Douglas MacArthur started the release of prisoners.

Half a century has passed, and having abandoned all commitments it took at the Crimea Conference and documented in a three-party deal on the Far East issues (from February 11, 1945), as well as in other landmark documents signed followingthe end of WW II, the US decided to support Japan in its territorial claims to Russia.

According to an official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich, all attempts by the US authorities to meddle into the Russia-Japan territorial dispute are inadmissible.

The mere intention to revise the outcome of WW II presents a serious threat to the world. And the threat becomes even bigger when this intention is backed by a state which once was a member of the anti-Hitler coalition.