Both Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the achievements made at their talks Sunday in Irkutsk, Siberia. Assessing the same meeting, however, the two leaders inadvertently acknowledged publicly that they were giving different interpretations of the talks on the long-pending problem of the Northern Territories. This means that their talks produced little new progress toward a settlement favorable to Japan's claim on the islands east of Hokkaido -- Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai islets.
This result was anticipated. Since taking power, Mr. Putin has consistently assumed a cautious posture on the bilateral territorial issue even though he has indicated he understands the importance of resolving the territorial dispute, which has posed a major obstacle to improvement of relations between Japan and Russia throughout the postwar decades. No dramatic development could have resulted from the meeting between a leader like Putin and Prime Minister Mori, a lame duck.
The two nations, thus, cannot hope for a breakthrough in the territorial problem anytime soon. In fact, the Irkutsk summit indicates even more rocky going in the territorial negotiations between the two nations. Russia's adamant stance will require that the post-Mori Japanese government rework Japan's diplomatic strategy toward Russia with a new agenda for settling the territorial issue and concluding a peace treaty.