[(Title)] Japanese premier says he reiterated Japan’s stance on Kurils to Putin.

TOKYO, September 16. /TASS/.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had reiterated Japan's stance on the Kuril Islands issue to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who suggested signing a Russian-Japanese peace treaty by the end of the year without preconditions.

日本首相安倍晋三表示，他已经向俄罗斯总统普京重申了日本在南千岛群岛问题上的立场，后者建议在年底前不设先决条件地签署俄日和平条约。

"I have repeatedly delivered our stance to President Putin: at first, the territorial problem must be solved, and only after that a peace treaty can be signed," Abe said during electoral debates with former Japanese defense minister Shigeru Ishiba, aired by the NHK TV channel.

安倍晋三在与日本前国防部长石原茂的选举辩论中称：“我已经多次向普京总统表达我们的立场：必须先解决领土问题，才能签署和平条约。”

"I used to say this to him before the Russian president made his statement, and repeated it after he made the proposal, just in case," the Japanese premier went on.

“在俄罗斯总统发表声明之前，我常常对他说这个，在他提出提案之后，我又重复了一遍，以防万一。”日本首相继续说道。

He added that "many specialists and analysts believe that President Putin's proposal demonstrates his determination to solve the peace treaty issue."

他还说：“许多专家和分析专家认为，普京总统的提案表明了他解决和平条约问题的决心”

Ishiba, in his turn, expressed doubt that Putin's proposal was made on impulse.

但石原却对普京的建议“是一时冲动提出的”表示怀疑。

"This cannot be a spontaneous proposal, as he says. I'm sure that everything was planned beforehand," he said.

他说：“这不可能是一个自发的提案，我相信一切都是事先计划好的。”

Putin suggested at the Eastern Economic Forum's plenary session on September 12 that Moscow and Tokyo should make a peace treaty without any preconditions before the end of the year.

普京在9月12日举行的东方经济论坛全体会议上建议，莫斯科和东京应该在年底前无任何先决条件地缔结一项和平条约。

He also said that the treaty may contain Moscow and Tokyo's determination to settle territorial disputes.

他还说，该条约可能包含莫斯科和东京解决领土争端的决心。

When asked to comment on the Russian president's initiative, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official told TASS that Tokyo planned to hold peace treaty talks with Moscow once the territorial dispute was resolved and that position remained unchanged.

当被问及对俄罗斯总统提出的倡议时，日本外务省的一名官员告诉塔斯社，一旦领土争端得到解决，并且这一立场保持不变，东京计划与莫斯科举行和平条约会谈。

Since the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been holding consultations in order to clinch a peace treaty as a follow-up to World War II.

自20世纪中叶以来，俄罗斯和日本一直在进行磋商，以缔结一项和平条约，作为第二次世界大战的后续行动。

The Kuril Islands issue remains the sticking point since after WWII the islands were handed over to the Soviet Union while Japan has laid claims to the four southern islands.

自第二次世界大战后，南千岛群岛一直是一个棘手的问题，因为这些岛屿被移交给了苏联，而日本则宣称对四个南部岛屿拥有主权。

In 1956, the two countries signed a common declaration on ending the state of war and restoring diplomatic and all other relations, however, a peace treaty has still not been reached.

1956年，两国签署了一项关于结束战争状态和恢复外交及所有其他关系的共同宣言，然而，和平条约仍未达成。

Moscow has stated many times that Russia's sovereignty over the islands could not be questioned.

莫斯科多次表示，俄罗斯对这些岛屿的主权不容置疑。