Medvedev urges Japan to revise its stance on Kuriles (adds).

24/12 Tass 232
MOSCOW, December 24 (Itar-Tass) - In a live interview with Russian TV
channels on Friday, President Dmitry Medvedev urged the Japanese
authorities to revise their stance on the Southern Kuriles, and offered
the official Tokyo and Japanese business to launch more active economic
cooperation in that Russian region.
The president stressed that "all islands of the Kurile ridge are the
territory of the Russian Federation". "This is our land, and we must
develop the Kurile Islands, making it so that our people live decently
there," Medvedev said, summing up the results of the year.
Meanwhile, "nothing can bring closer than economic cooperation," he
stressed, saying that Russia offers Japan to set up a free economic zone,
a zone of free trade on the islands. "All will be earning money there, a
special micro-environment will be created there, people will come there
for work, Japanese nationals will come there, will visit historical places
and work there," the president stressed.
"I told my colleague, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, about that,
inviting him to visit Russia," the Russian leader said.
Commenting on the motives behind his trip to the Kunashir Island,
Medvedev said "Let me remind you that the Southern Kuriles are the
territory of the Russian Federation. The president can travel there. And
the fact that I was the first to go there - it so happened, they are
situated far away," he said.
"But nevertheless, it is our land. We must take all necessary
decisions, develop the Kurile Islands, making it so that our people live
decently there. I personally promised that to them. And after that I sent
Shuvalov there. He flew to the region and continues the work. Others will
also go there," the president promised.
"But this does not mean that we are not ready to work with our
Japanese colleagues. Of course we are ready to implement joint economic
projects, we are ready to take into consideration historical moments that
existed on the Kurile Islands," he noted.
"This is true. We are ready to work with them. But this does not mean
that we must give up the Kurile Islands as our land. And our partners must
clearly understand that," Medvedev stressed.
Medvedev expressed sincere regrets over the fact that his working trip
to the region had triggered such a strong reaction in Tokyo and the
resignation of the Japanese ambassador to Russia. "I sincerely regret that
as a matter of fact I contributed to the termination of his political
carrier for some time," the Russian president added.
-0-zhe/mil