Japan’s Abe plans to pursue peace with Putin in hopes of regaining islands that Soviet Union seized more than seven decades ago

The return of the islands off Hokkaido, known in Russia as the Kurils but still marked on Japanese maps as the Northern Territories, has long been one of Abe’s primary foreign policy aims and there have been signs in recent years that he was inching closer to an agreement with Moscow – though analysts say that ultimately, Russia has no intention of giving the islands back.

That belief has been reinforced by a recent announcement of Russia’s plans to increase its military presence on some of the disputed islands, including the deployment of new anti-ship missiles.

In a radio interview that aired on Sunday, Abe said he intends to have “specific discussions” with Putin on a peace treaty – the two nations are still technically at war, due to the ongoing territorial dispute making an agreement impossible.

President Putin “has a strong determination to sign a peace treaty,” Abe said on the Radio Nippon broadcast, although he conceded that his government has yet to win the approval of the United States for one of Russia’s demands concerning the return of the islands.