Russian officials study problems of far eastern Kuril islands
17/06/2005 17:24 VLADIVOSTOK, June 17 (RIA Novosti's Anatoly Ilyukhov) - The plenipotentiary representative of the Russian President in the Far Eastern federal district, Konstantin Pulikovsky, and deputy Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Spassky today discussed the social and economic situation on the Kuril Islands, the Sakhalin region.
As the press secretary of the plenipotentiary representative Yevgeny Anoshin said, the population has started more actively to use the Kuril land. People have begun to build comfortable houses, and the birthrate on the islands now tops the death rate. "This shows the desire of the people to continue to live on the Kuril Islands," the plenipotentiary representative said.
Spassky told the plenipotentiary about his meetings with the inhabitants of the Kuril Islands. According to him, 90% of them consider that land their home and part of Russia. This point of view coincides with the opinion of the Russian leadership.
The two officials confirmed a special geostrategic importance of the Kuril Islands for Russia and also the need of an increased attention to that territory on the part of the federal center.
Nikolai Spassky headed the delegation of the Russian Security Council, Foreign Ministry and the President's plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern federal district, which the day before made a working tour of the Kuril Islands.
"That was a serious inspection trip, the aim of which was to meet with the inhabitants of the Kuril Islands, to learn their sentiments and to meet with the heads of the local enterprises and the bodies of power," Spassky said.
For his part Konstantin Pulikovsky believes that every citizen of the Kuril Islands must feel that he or she is a full-fledged citizen of Russia and must be confident of his or her future.
Japan insists that Russia should return to it four South Kuril Islands (Iturup, Kunashir and the islands of the Smaller Kurils) which are referred to in Japan as "northern territories," which were allegedly captured by the Soviet Union in 1945 as a result of the war.
Russia recognizes the existence of the territorial problem that Japan raises, but rejects the demands, made in an a form of an ultimatum, to return to it four islands, proposing a possibility of solving the territorial problem on the basis of the Declaration of 1956. Under this declaration, Russia, as a good gesture, could give Japan two South Kuril Islands after the conclusion of a political treaty of friendship between the two countries.
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