Dozens of railway cars with relief aid, including food, medicines, and 280 prefabricated houses, are being ferried to Sakhalin Island every day. From there ships transport the aid to the southern Kurils, the agency said.
Also Thursday, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin ruled out handing back the disputed Kuril islands to Japan, Interfax reported.
He told deputies in the State Duma the Kurils had always been Russian and would remain so.
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