World IN BRIEF : SOVIET UNION : Official Endorses Return of Islands

Japan’s Kyodo News Service reported that Grigory Yavlinsky, vice chairman of the Soviet State Council’s economic management committee, has endorsed the return to Japan of several Soviet-held islands in the Kurils that were seized in the waning days of World War II. He was quoted by Kyodo as saying that an 1855 treaty between the two countries “could be a moral and legal starting point to resolve the issue.” The news service quoted Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama as saying he welcomes what he called “a (Soviet) will to revive the territorial issue.” The official Soviet position has been that there would be no bargaining on the islands.