Representatives of the Ainu nation, an indigenous group in northern Japan, issued a joint statement on November 14 to the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Tokyo claiming territorial rights to the South Kurile Islands and demanding that Japan and Russia cease talks of governmental ownership, according to MosNews.com. Ownership of the South Kurile Islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kuriles, has been disputed since the islands were annexed from Japan by the former Soviet Union in World War II. MosNews reports that the longstanding dispute has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty that would formally end hostilities between the two nations. President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi are scheduled to meet from November 20-22 to negotiate control of the islands.
The Ainu explained in their statement that "the four Kurile Islands belong neither to Japan nor to Russia," and that the Ainu have inhabited the territory "since time immemorial," according to Itar-Tass News Agency. The Ainu have asked that they be granted free access to the islands, and hope to make them an autonomous area of the Ainu nation in the future.
