In contrast with the pomp at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka last month, an air of indifference dominated the meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Just like the previous meetings between the two leaders, the Abe-Putin summit held on the G20 sidelines ended with no tangible progress made toward a peace treaty, let alone resolution of the long-standing dispute over the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.
Abe immediately faced routine criticism at home for failing once again to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough, but the real significance of the latest summit — the 26th between them — lay in his conscious decision to skirt around the territorial issue while seeking to accelerate economic cooperation.