By Dmitry Filippov

May 28, 2015

"On May 6, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held an informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the subtropical Russian city of Sochi. The three-hour talks concluded with both sides agreeing to streamline the negotiation process aimed at resolving their territorial dispute and concluding a peace treaty based on an undisclosed 'new concept.' This nebulous wording gives Abe enough room for interpretation and allows him to pass it off as a diplomatic achievement just in time for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Unlike most of their previous meetings, these talks between Abe and Putin were strictly unofficial, not preceded by briefings from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and not followed by a press conference. Such reticence might be explained by Japan's reluctance to formally bring up the contentious issue of the territorial dispute, so as to ensure that the Abe-Putin meeting was held in the spirit of good will."

Read more:
http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/prospects-for-russia-japan-rapprochement/

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