No breakthrough on disputed islands but Shinzo Abe and Vladimir Putin call for ‘end to historic ping-pong’
The dispute over the islands, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, has prevented the two nations agreeing a treaty to put the second world war behind them
Russia and Japan have signalled there has been no resolution following a two-day summit to a decades-long territorial dispute that has blocked them from achieving a peace treaty to formally end second world war hostilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks in Abe’s ancestral hometown and in Tokyo, in the latest attempt to secure a deal.
“It would be naive to think we can solve this problem in an hour,” Putin said at a joint press conference with Abe. “There must be an end to this historic ping-pong. The fundamental interests of Russia and Japan require a long-term deal.”
Abe concurred, but said the effort would continue despite the “difficult path ahead”.
It would be naive to think we can solve this problem in an hour
“Concluding a peace treaty that has not been concluded in more than 70 years is not easy,” Abe said. “But we cannot resolve this issue only by asserting the correctness of each other’s claims.”