DANANG, VIETNAM – Russian President Vladimir Putin said over the weekend that Japan’s security obligations to its allies must be assessed when discussing a pending post-World War II peace treaty between Moscow and Tokyo.
Putin has previously raised the possibility of U.S. forces, in line with the Japan-U.S. security treaty, being deployed on islands currently held by Russia and claimed by Japan if his country hands them over to Tokyo as part of a formal peace deal.
The dispute over ownership of the islands, which the Soviet Union occupied after Japan surrendered in 1945, has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty. The islands, northeast of Hokkaido, are called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
The peace treaty negotiations will likely take years, Putin told a news conference Saturday in Danang, Vietnam, where he held a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.
During their meeting, the two leaders also discussed bilateral economic projects on the islands and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
LATEST NATIONAL STORIES
Click to enlarge
