Putin and Abe seek WW2 peace treaty decades later
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin arrived in Japan yesterday for a hot spring summit aimed at reaching a deal over a group of small islands that have prevented the countries from formally ending their World War 2 hostilities.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hosting Putin in his ancestral city of Nagato in hopes of achieving a breakthrough over the territory off Japan’s northern coast, seized by Soviet troops in 1945.
The four islands are known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.
Abe would like to seal a deal as soon as possible as Japanese former residents are ageing and dwindling in number.
Despite months of preparation, the outlook is not good, with both sides recently damping down expectations of major progress.
“I want to go into this summit with determination to end the issue in my generation,” Abe told former residents earlier this week, suggesting an agreement remains distant.
Putin, a judo fan who is making his first visit to Japan in more than a decade, said he wanted to end the “anachronism” of the two countries not having a World War 2 peace treaty.
“But how to do this is a difficult question,” he told Japanese media.
For Abe, the issue is also a “legacy” from his late father Shintaro, who took the lead in negotiations with Moscow as a foreign minister but died in 1991 after pushing for talks while suffering from cancer.
Ahead of the meeting, Abe visited his father’s grave near the venue. “Finally, I will hold a Japansummit by inviting President Putin to my hometown Nagato,” Abe tweeted with a picture of him joining hands in prayer in front of the tomb.
Abe has looked to eke out concessions by dangling the prospect of major Japanese investment in front of Moscow, which is mired in economic crisis.
But few believe Putin is likely to cave to Japanese demands to hand back at least some control over the islands, especially after Donald Trump’s election as the next president of the United States last month.
The New York real-estate baron has vowed to improve ties with Russia, where the economy has reeled under tough US sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine and the impact of falling oil prices. — AFP