Russia calls for joint commission of historians with Japan

MOSCOW, February 11 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov offered to create a joint commission of historians with Japan, but his Japanese counterpart Seiji Maehara doubts that it is needed.
"The creation of a commission of historians would be useful, we have
similar commissions with several our partners," Lavrov told a press
conference after the negotiations with the Japanese counterpart. "But we
respect the Japanese position towards this idea," he said.
For his part, Maehara doubted that this Russian move is expedient. "At the today's meeting we failed to bring closer our positions on the
territorial problem. Before this meeting we had various debates at the
level of historical experts. I take this idea with doubt," Maehara noted.
For his part, Lavrov noted that if Japan is not ready to create such a joint commission Russia "will not insist on this."