The deadlock in Japan-Russia relations shows no signs of ending anytime soon. A Tokyo visit by President Vladimir Putin -- which had been expected early this year -- is up in the air now that an advance trip by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, initially set for earlier this month, has been postponed indefinitely. A cloud of uncertainty also hangs over the long-delayed plan to open an intergovernmental committee on trade expansion and energy cooperation.

At a meeting last year with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Mr. Putin agreed to visit Japan. In January, the foreign ministers of the two countries met to arrange Mr. Putin's itinerary, but to no avail. Evidently the two sides are not ready to break the ice in their bitter dispute over the Northern Territories -- a group of Japanese islands the Soviet Union seized toward the end of World War II.

That is unfortunate, especially because this is a memorable year for both countries: the 150th anniversary of the 1855 Treaty of Amity -- which established diplomatic relations between Japan and Russia -- and the centennial of the Russo-Japanese War. The treaty set the border between Russia's South Kuril island of Urup and Japan's northernmost island of Etorofu.