All four islands in southern Kurils remain integral part of Russian Federation — Kremlin - TASS

The four islands in the southern part of the Kuril Ridge are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, commenting on the Japanese Foreign Ministry's designation of the southern part of the Kuril Islands as "illegally occupied" in its annual Bluebook diplomacy report.

"All four islands are integral territory of the Russian Federation," he said.

He also said it is very difficult to talk about continuing the peace treaty talks with Japan under the current circumstances. "Obviously, now that Japan has become an unfriendly country and has joined a number of hostile actions toward the Russian Federation, it is very, very difficult to talk about continuing the peace treaty talks," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.