Legal Basis of Territorial Delimitation between Russia and Japan

Abstract

The author deals with the issue, that has been widely considered in a number of scientific researches and has been regularly raised by Japan, — the problem of the so called “northern territories”. Having analyzed various international legal instruments, domestic and foreign scientists’ research papers, the author pays attention to some translation inaccuracies between the original text and the text in the Japanese language in the Simoda treaty, 1855, and the Saint-Petersburg treaty, 1875. Those mistakes have been used by Japan to prove the thesis that the term “the Kurils” doesn’t include Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomais. Besides, special attention is paid to the analysis of international legal instruments that were adopted during and after the World War II, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Japan territorial claims are well-grounded. At the end of the article the author offers the way to overcome the long-standing “Kuril problem”.