Russian, Japanese foreign ministers meet in Atlanta to discuss bilateral ties

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi on Friday in the Southern US city of Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss bilateral relations.

The meeting was held at the Japanese side’s request on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, according to the ministry.

The Russian side stressed that a full resumption of interstate dialogue would require Tokyo to abandon its “unfriendly course,” the statement said.

On Oct. 19, Japanese government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said Tokyo vowed to pursue “necessary communication” with Russia amid a “difficult state” of bilateral relations over a group of disputed islets.

Bilateral ties have worsened since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022. Japan has aligned with its Western allies in imposing sanctions on Russia.

After World War II, the two countries normalized ties in a 1956 accord, yet they have a long-standing territorial dispute over a group of islands-Shikotan and the Habomai-off Japan’s Hokkaido Island.

Japan identifies them as the Northern Territories, while Russia calls them Southern Kurils.

Tokyo maintains that the Northern Territories were illegally seized by the then-USSR soon after Japan’s 1945 surrender in World War II.

Russia argues that the seizure was legitimate.

The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty since World War II, while tensions have deepened in recent years over Tokyo’s sanctions against Moscow over the Russia-Ukraine war.