War Two peace treaty, in an effort to improve relations. In March 7, 2022, in a House of Councillors Budget Committee session Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described a chain of islets off the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido that have been long-disputed with Russia as Japan's "inherent territory". Also in solidarity with Ukraine over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Japan joined in the implementation of the Western-led sanctions against Russia and Belarus, by sanctioning a number of people linked to the Russian regime and revoking Russia's "most favored nation" status. Despite suggestions from LDP lawmakers, prime minister Kishida did not abolish the post of Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia in the August 2022 reshuffle. The newly-appointed minister Yasutoshi Nishimura stated there is no policy change in keeping interests in the Sakhalin-II oil and gas project in Russia, one of the world’s largest integrated oil and gas projects owned by Gazprom, Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi. Kuril Islands dispute Relations between Russia and Japan since the end of World War II have been defined by the dispute over sovereignty of the Kuril Islands and concluding a peace treaty. In the spring of 1992 the Russian General Staff received reports that the Japanese began discussing the possible return of the northern territories. President Boris Yeltsin was considering giving up the Southern Kurils in 1992. Throughout the 1990s, efforts were made to come to some agreement by President Yeltsin and Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi. One of the goals of the Obuchi was to sign a peace treaty with Russia by 2000, which he did not achieve. He visited Russia in November 1998. On August 16, 2006, Russian maritime authorities killed a Japanese fisherman and captured a crab fishing boat in the waters around the disputed Kuril Islands. The Russian foreign ministry has claimed that the death was caused by a "stray bullet". On September 28, 2006, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would "continue the dialogue with the new Japanese government. We will build our relations, how the people of the two countries want them to be. Then-Foreign Minister Taro Aso remained on his post in the government. We have good, long-standing relations, we will act under the elaborated program." The dispute over the Southern Kuril Islands deteriorated Russo-Japan relations when the Japanese government published a new guideline for school textbooks on July 16, 2008 to teach Japanese children that their country has