Kishida does not yet see prospects for negotiating a peace treaty with Russia. Relations between Japan and Russia are in this situation because of the special operation in Ukraine.
Russian authorities have repeatedly spoken about the indisputability of Russian sovereignty over the Kuril Islands. According to Dmitry Peskov, Japan has actively joined the camp of unfriendly states. The Japanese side in Japan’s Blue Book on Diplomacy for 2023 used the wording about “illegal occupation of the northern territories.”