Duma wants Foreign Ministry to update on progress in Kurils talks with Japan
MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) - The State Duma has instructed its foreign affairs committee to request the Foreign Ministry to inform of the progress in Russian-Japanese talks over the Kuril Islands.
The protocol instruction was proposed by a group of Communist Party deputies who expressed concern over the lack of clear information on the matter.
The committee was told to ask the Foreign Ministry to inform "of the progress and interim results of the talks being held throughout 2018 between Russian and Japanese officials regarding the ownership of the Kuril Islands, including the possibility of revisiting the provisions of the 1956 Soviet-Japanese declaration regarding the transfer of the islands of Shikotan and Habomai to Japan."
The request will be sent to the ministry today, the committee's chairman Leonid Slutsky said.