Russia and Japan on brink of Kuril Islands truce after 70 years

Vladimir Putin needs an economic ally and Shinzo Abe needs a military friend in an unstable northeast Asia, say Nikolas Gvosdev and Matthew Rojansky.

SINCE the Second World War, Russia and Japan have disputed ownership of four islands in the Kuril archipelago. This has prevented them from developing closer economic ties.

Japan views the Russian occupation of the islands as illegitimate. Russia says otherwise, because Japan launched, and then lost, a war of aggression, and must accept the loss of territory as a just consequence.