OREANDA-NEWS  The resumption of exchanges with the "four northern islands", as the Russian Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai are called in Japan, starting with visits to the graves of Japanese on these islands, is one of the priorities of relations with Russia, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

"We have not received a positive reaction from the Russian side on the issue of visiting graves (on the islands). For the Japanese government, the resumption of exchanges with the four islands, starting with visits to graves, is one of the most priority areas in the future relations between Japan and Russia. We will continue negotiations with the Russian side on resuming exchanges, paying special attention in particular to the issue of visiting graves on four islands," Hayashi said at a press conference in Tokyo.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on March 21 last year that Moscow, as a response to Tokyo's unfriendly steps, refuses to negotiate a peace treaty with Japan, stops visa-free trips of citizens of this country to the southern Kuril Islands, withdraws from dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activities in the southern Kuril Islands.

 For the first time, a charter flight from Japan to the Kuril Islands took place in September 2017, before that visa-free delegations were delivered only by sea vessels. Visits to the graves of the ancestors of former residents of the islands were also held as part of visa-free exchanges. Visa-free exchanges between Russia and Japan have been frozen since 2020 due to the pandemic, and then amid the deterioration of bilateral relations.