Talks on Russo–Japanese territorial disputes still going nowhere (Dmitry Streltsov, East Asia Forum)

On 6 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in Sochi in a bid strengthen trust between the two leaders. Russia and Japan still view each other from the standpoint of the Cold War: for Russia, Japan is first of all the ‘junior partner’ of the United States and a location for US military bases; for Japan, Russia is a permanent source of instability that is unwilling to return its native territories. In this context, the Summit meeting was of deep significance to both countries

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/05/21/talks-on-russo-japanese-territorial-disputes-still-going-nowhere/