Russia`s ruling party to campaign against Japan`s territorial claim

MOSCOW, April 30 Kyodo -
A youths organization under Russia's ruling party is preparing to open chapters
at two of the four Russian-administered islands also claimed by Japan and
launch a campaign against the return of the islands to Japan, one of its
officials said Wednesday.
The move to set up chapters on Kunashiri and Shikotan islands comes prior to
the visit of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, also chair of the ruling
United Russia party, to Japan from May 11.
The procedures for opening the chapters will be completed in June, according to
Konstantin Saprykin, the leader of the group's Sakhalin chapter. The group is
called ''Molodaya Gvardia'' (Young Guard).
He also said that the new chapters will promote ''patriotic activities'' such
as celebrating the anniversary of Russia's wartime victory over Japan.
The chapters will also identify those who are capable of working as local
assembly members or bureaucrats to recommend them to the party, he said.
During his visit to Kunashiri in April for the preparatory activities, Saprykin
agreed with students at two schools there to reject the return of the islands
to Japan. He also met with the local assembly members.
A summer camp is also being considered, based on a proposal by young people in
the four islands. Such camps serve as occasions to conduct ''patriotic
education'' in line with the government's policies, and Saprykin said
territorial issues could be discussed at the camp.
He criticized Japan's demand for the islands, saying it is ''groundless, and
criminal to some extent.''
The row over Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group, occupied
by the Russians since the final days of World War II, has prevented the two
countries from formally ending wartime hostilities with a peace treaty. They
are known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in
Russia.
==Kyodo