Japanese-Russian territorial dispute over Kuril islands: partition of the problem as the best way for resolving the issue and signing peace treaty

Abstract

In this article the author will observe territorial dispute between the Russian Federation and Japan, which concerns three separate islands and one group of islands. In Japanese literature it is known as “Northern territories dispute” in Russian – “Kuril islands dispute”. The case will be observed from three “international” interconnected perspectives: politics, relationships (inter-cultural, inter-governmental) and law. This case becomes truly topical one, as nowadays we may observe world-wide reconstruction of international alliances, regimes, institutions. These changes are influenced by high volatility of leaders – both countries and individuals. All these processes provide perfect framing for the current case and open new perspective for its analysis. The author will prove that this case affects (and consequently to be of interest for) more countries than just Russia and Japan and should be considered accordingly. Finally there will be a brief list of each party claims and of possible solutions (with notion of their merits and demerits) that could be used as guide lines in the further discussions between government officials, lawyers, business groups and scholars of mentioned above disciplines. The author doesn’t intend to provide fundamental academic observation of the case but rather interested in demonstration of different perspectives that could be used for its analysis.