“No dialogue is taking place, and discussing a peace treaty without dialogue is impossible,” Peskov told reporters, alluding to the current state of Russian-Japanese relations.

The Kremlin spokesperson also claimed that Tokyo maintains an “unfriendly stance” toward Moscow, making it “unlikely to reach any kind of agreement without changing the modality” of bilateral ties.

The presidency press secretary stressed that Moscow never advocated for halting the talks, while stressing that Japan took the initiative to interrupt them.

Peskov’s statements are a response to remarks made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in her speech in the Lower House of the Japanese Parliament, where she explained that her country remains committed to reaching a peaceful agreement with Russia to resolve the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands, despite the serious state of their shared ties.

The current absence of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, an unresolved issue since the end of World War II (1939-1945), casts a shadow over relations between the two nations.

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