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The representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev, said he was willing to discuss the issue of citizenship of Alaskan residents with the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev, suggested calling Alaska residents “citizens of the Russian Empire.” It is reported by the Russian “Interfax”.
Trutnev made this statement after it emerged that the US State Department considers people born in the South Kuril Islands to be native to Japan.
According to Trutnev, “he is willing to talk to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that the residents of Alaska are perceived as citizens of the Russian Empire.”
An unresolved territorial dispute remains over the Southern Kuriles between Moscow and Tokyo – Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and the Habomai group. The Japanese side calls the Southern Kurils “northern territories” and does not recognize them as Russian. Moscow does not recognize the very fact of the territorial dispute.
In September 2018, Putin offered Japan to conclude a peace treaty before the end of the year without preconditions. However, Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on the same day that until the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands is resolved, Japan will not conclude a peace treaty with Russia.
In October, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that he was ready to conclude a peace treaty with Russia only after the Kuril Islands became part of Japan.
In a meeting in Singapore with Putin on November 14, Abe promised that if the Kuril Islands were transferred to Japan, they would not host US military bases.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks are not talking about the automatic transfer of the islands to Japan.
On January 1, 2019, Abe pointed out that the relocation of the Kuril Islands to Japan should not cause problems for Russian citizens living in this territory.
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