Living Kurils in protest refused a visa-free exchange with Japan

Authorities

Kuril area (island Iturup) have decided to waive visa-free exchanges with Japan in response to the Japanese Parliament, called the Kuril Islands Japanese ancestral lands, told the press service of the regional administration.

Japan's Parliament adopted amendments to the law, which refers to Japanese ownership of four Russian islands Yuzhnokurilskoy ridge. These amendments to the law on special measures to advance the solution to the problem of the Northern Territories , which recorded four of the Japanese islands of Russian Yuzhnokurilskoy ridge.

Visa-free exchanges between the inhabitants of the Russian average, and the southern Kuriles and Japan by 1992, on the basis of intergovernmental agreements to improve mutual understanding of peoples of both countries, to address the issue of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan. Visits are carried out on a national passport with a special liner, without a visa. Over the entire period of the visa-free exchanges of more than 8 thousand Japanese nationals were on the Kurile Islands, and about 7 thousand Russians - in Japan. Most of the time kurilchane visit to Hokkaido.

this year from May to October, the southern Kuril islands and the average of the plan should be to visit a total of 22 Japanese groups, is about a thousand people, and Japan - 11 groups of Russians, it's about 330 people.

Living Iturup (average Kurils) were extremely angered by the recent actions of the Japanese parliament on the situation around the Kurile Islands. Local MPs supported fellow and decided to abandon the visa-free exchanges up to the decision taken by the Japanese parliament. In the South Kuril region This form of tourism has maintained in previous volumes, - told the other person.

According to him, 10 July, at 17.00 local time (10.00 Moscow time) on the square in front of Chekhov Center will host a rally at which voluntary associations, political parties and indifferent residents and visitors of the regional center to protest at the policies of Japan in against the Kurile Islands.

As the deputy chairman of the committee of international, foreign economic and interregional relations of Sakhalin Oblast, head of department for relations with Japan Sergey Ponomarev, the organizers of the rally - a group of citizens - were opposed to the adoption by parliament of amendments to the law of Japan.

Japan claims the four islands the Southern Kuriles - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, referring to bilateral trade and the Treatise on the borders of 1855, which was defined boundary between the islands of Urup and Iturup and disputed islands now have thus recognizedthe Japanese.

Moscow's principled position is that the southern Kuril islands became part of the Soviet Union, Russia became the legal successor of which, following the Second World War, and Russia's sovereignty over them with the relevant international legal clearance, shall not be questioned. But the Japanese have to be decided by the territorial dispute signing a peace treaty between the two countries.