Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow Sunday the understanding on border issues with China "helped to remove serious irritants in bilateral relations," Russian media reported.  

In an interview with the NTV television network, Lavrov said Russia now has a fully delimited border with China for the first time in history, adding that the two countries made this achievement after "their relations reached the level of strategic partnership."

Apart from settling the territorial problems, Russia and China have also "achieved important understandings on military, energy and migration questions," the minister said.

Speaking of Russia's ties with Japan, Lavrov said it's important to sign a peace treaty "to settle fully relations with Japan."

The development of the dialogue and partnership is the precondition for settling the territorial problems with Japan, he noted.

Referring to the disputes with Georgia, he said Russia has always recognized the republic's territorial integrity.

"We advocate a settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian conflicts on the basis of mechanisms worked out with the participation of conflicting sides," the minister said.

The minister warned that Georgia's border problems include the struggle against terrorism, and Russia will pay great attention to it.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2004)