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The Kuril Island dispute is a dispute between Japan and Russia over Sovereignty over the southernmost Kuril Islands . The disputed islands are currently under Russian administration as part of the Sakhalin Oblast , but are also claimed by Japan, which refers to them as the '''Northern Territories''' (北方領土 ''Hoppō Ryōdo'') or '''Southern Chishima''' (南千島 ''Minami Chishima''). The disputed islands are:
The dispute results from an ambiguity over the Treaty Of San Francisco (1951). Under Article However, the Soviet Union chose not to be signatory to the San Francisco Treaty. And Article 2 of an earlier (1855) Russo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation (the Treaty Of Shimoda ), which provided for an agreement on borders, states "Henceforth the boundary between the two nations shall lie between the islands of Etorofu and Uruppu . The whole of Etorofu shall belong to Japan; and the Kurile Islands, lying to the north of and including Uruppu, shall belong to Russia." Note that Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomai s Islands are not explicitly mentioned in the treaty. Japan maintains its claim to the whole of South Kurile Islands. Russian position varies from administration to administration; as of December 2004, it tends to follow the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration Of 1956 signed by the USSR and Japan which stipulated for the disputed group being divided between the two nations, Russia keeping the two northernmost islands and ceding Shikotan and the Habomais to Japan. However, the claims of the indigenous Ainu People to the islands have gone largely ignored by the Power s. See also External links
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