Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the United States' military presence in Japan was complicating the search for a formal peace treaty between Moscow and Tokyo.
Russia and Japan have been in dispute for seven decades over a group of islands captured by Soviet troops in the last days of World War II. As a result, they have still not formally ended hostilities.
Putin told reporters at his annual news conference that Moscow was concerned by the deployment of a U.S. air defense system in Japan, presumably referring to the Aegis Ashore anti-missile defense system.