Adoption of amendments to the Constitution means the final solution to the issue of the Kuril Islands, the Senator said Alexei Pushkov in an interview to "Politekspert".
One of the amendments adopted yesterday in the framework of the popular vote, introduces changes in article 67 of the Basic law "On the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation". In particular, the revised text declares inadmissible the attempts of alienation of areas of the country.
As the newspaper notes, the Japanese side has already commented on the results of voting on amendments to the Constitution and stated that it did not change its position on the Kuril issue.
"In my opinion, this provision covers the possibility of transferring any state to any part of the territory of Russia. Japan remains with the claims, but the prospects of Moscow’s refusal of the sovereignty over the Southern Kuril Islands, in my opinion, now zero. It’s the final answer", — said Pushkov.
Japan again demanded that Russia return the Kuril Islands
In Russia 1st of July finished voting on the amendments to the Constitution. According to the CEC, the turnout was 67,97 per cent, with 77.92 percent of voters supported the amendments, and 21.27 percent voted against the decision.
Moscow and Tokyo many decades trying to conclude a peace Treaty at the end of the Second world war. The main obstacle to this remains the issue of belonging of the South Kuril Islands after the end of world war II, the entire archipelago was incorporated into the Soviet Union, but Tokyo disputes ownership of the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and group of uninhabited Islands, which in Japan is called Habomai.
The position of Moscow consists that Southern Kuriles became part of the Soviet Union at the end of the war and the Russian sovereignty over them, which has the appropriate international legal formalization, can not be doubted.
In 2018 during the meeting in Singapore Putin and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe agreed to accelerate the negotiation process on the conclusion of a peace Treaty between the two countries on the basis of Joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration of 1956. It was a serious concession on the part of Tokyo, since the Japanese authorities demanded the return of the four Islands, and only after that were ready to sign a peace Treaty.
