Downbeat comments from top Russian officials have cast a shadow over this week’s summit between president Vladimir Putin and Shinzo Abe of Japan as the…
Downbeat comments from top Russian officials have cast a shadow over this week’s summit between president Vladimir Putin and Shinzo Abe of Japan as the two countries look to settle a festering territorial dispute over four small islands.
Tokyo is hoping that personal chemistry between Mr Abe and Mr Putin will help restart seemingly stalled negotiations over a potential peace treaty after a difficult meeting between their foreign ministers in Moscow last week.
The Russian remarks highlight how difficult it will be to resolve the so-called Kurils dispute even as Mr Abe seeks to accelerate the timetable, with an eye on some kind of agreement by the time he hosts the G20 summit in June.
“We’ve brought the attention of our friends from Japan to the fact that the questions of sovereignty over the islands are not being discussed. It is the Russian Federation’s territory,” said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, in strikingly downbeat comments that sought to temper expectations in Tokyo of a breakthrough.
