d the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern
Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kurils," occupied by the
Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, and claimed by
Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty
formally ending World War II hostilities; Russia and Georgia agree
on delimiting 80% of their common border, leaving certain small,
strategic segments and the maritime boundary unresolved; OSCE
observers monitor volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the
Akhmeti region and the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia; equidistant seabed
treaties were signed and ratified with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in
the Caspian Sea but no consensus exists on dividing the water column
among the littoral states; Russia and Norway dispute their maritime
limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond
Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone;
various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia and other
areas ceded to the Soviet Union following the Second World War but
the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands; in 1996, the
Estonia-Russia technical border agreement was initialed but both
have been hesitant to sign and ratify it, with Russia asserting that
Estonia needs to better assimilate Russian-speakers and Estonian
groups advocating realignment of the boundary based more closely on
the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty that would bring the now divided ethnic
Setu people and parts of the Narva region within Estonia; the
Latvian-Russian boundary treaty of 1997 remains unsigned and
unratified with Russia linking it to better Latvian treatment of
ethnic Russians and Latvian politicians demanding Russian agreement
to a declaration that admits Soviet aggression during the Second
World War and other issues; in 2003, the Lithuania-Russia land and
maritime boundary treaty was ratified and a transit regime
established through Lithuania linking Russia and its Kaliningrad
coastal exclave, leaving only improvements to the border demarcation
in 2005; delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine is complete, but
states have agreed to defer demarcation; Russia and Ukraine continue
talks but still dispute the alignment of a maritime boundary through
the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov; Kazakhstan and Russia continue
demarcation of their long border; Russian Duma has not yet ratified
1990 Maritime Boundar