Judging by the latest events in the seemingly endless territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over the "Northern Territories," the Japanese side has decided to confirm its steadfast stance by presenting strong historical and judicial arguments — some traditional, some rather new.
However, it looks like now is not a very favorable moment to discuss with Russia such sensitive matters in the usual trivial manner. Both the ruling "tandem" and the modern Russian elite are facing a series of important domestic events and are obviously not ready to give away the nationalist and populist card. To them, this doubtful card seems to be so all-important in the short run that the strategic interests get unnoticed and thus ignored.
Regretfully, it is a fact that eventually very considerable economic and social gains which may stem from large-scale economic cooperation between Russia and Japan hardly look guaranteed and are shimmering somewhere only in the future. Obviously, geopolitical factors dominate Russia's agenda, while the geoeconomic approach gets no social backing whatsoever.