Russia's Putin Praises Abe, Says Late Japanese PM Wanted Peace Treaty
Pool via Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Akie Abe, wife of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, saying he knew the slain Japanese leader had dreamt of finally concluding a post-World War Two peace treaty.
No treaty was ever signed as the two countries could not resolve a dispute over the then-Soviet Union's seizure at the end of the war of four islands in the Southern Kuril chain, known in Japan as the Northern Territories.
Russian media said Abe and Putin met altogether 27 times during the nearly nine years the Japanese leader was in office. Abe left office in 2020 and was assassinated two years later while making an election campaign speech.
I know that his dream — and he truly strived to achieve this — was to conclude a peace treaty between our two countries. The situation is different now, the Russian leader said.
Putin, whose comments to Abe's widow in the Kremlin were reported by Russian news agencies, also said fulfilling that dream was not possible in the current international situation given the conflict in Ukraine.
Your husband did a great deal for the development of Russian-Japanese relations. We had very good personal relations, Putin was quoted as telling Akie Abe.
Russia's relations with Japan have been strained by Tokyo's support for sanctions imposed by Ukraine's Western allies over Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. All negotiations on clinching a peace treaty have been suspended.
Akie Abe told Putin, according to the agencies, that her husband had wanted to meet Putin even after the start of the Ukraine conflict 'but unfortunately circumstances were such that he was no longer able to meet you. His life was cut short.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Zico warns Japan players not to follow Brazilians into transfer trap
soccer By Andrew MCKIRDY Zico was instrumental in Japan's development as a soccer nation and has warned that players are moving to Europe too young, citing his native Brazil as a cautionary tale. The midfield legend ended his playing career in Japan after helping to launch the professional in 1993 and he also coached the country's national team from 2002 to 2006. He maintains a connection to Japan as an adviser to Kashima Antlers, the club he helped build into the country's most successful and where he has served as a player, coach and technical director for the past 30 years. During that time, Zico has seen Japan grow from soccer backwater to regular World Cup participant, with players thriving at some of Europe's biggest clubs. The 72-year-old says Japanese players looking beyond the is a "positive" development -- as long as they move at the right time. He draws similarities with Brazil, where he says some players leave for Europe after only a handful of games in the domestic league. "Brazilian players go to Europe too soon, losing their Brazilian roots. If a player isn't resilient, they come back because they haven't achieved their full potential there," Zico told AFP in Kashima. "They leave very early, they don't play and that's happened in Germany, it's happened in Italy, it's happened in many places. That's what's happening to many Japanese players -- they go there too early, lack confidence and then they come back." Zico says the trend is still overwhelmingly beneficial for Japan. He contrasts the situation to the early days of the when European clubs would sign Japanese players "for marketing reasons". Zico says the current picture is also different from his time as Japan coach, during which he won the 2004 Asian Cup and took the team to the 2006 World Cup. "We had some players in Europe but they would get half an hour, five minutes, 15 minutes in games -- they weren't starters like they are today, that's the big difference," he said. "So when they came back to play for the national team they didn't bring the same playing rhythm that they have today." Zico was one of several international stars drafted in to help the launch of the which brought professional football to Japan for the first time. The Brazilian, along with England's Gary Lineker and Germany's Pierre Littbarski, raised the new league's profile and helped football take root in a country long obsessed with baseball. High-profile signings are now rare in the with Spanish World Cup winner Andres Iniesta's move to Vissel Kobe in 2018 a notable exception. Zico believes it was "not a coincidence" that Kobe won two straight titles after Iniesta left the club in 2023. "It's an investment. Having a player of Iniesta's level at your club motivates everyone," he said. "You learn because he's a winner, it improves the performance of the other players and it motivates the supporters. Everything grows." Kashima currently top the even if the days when they could sign Brazilian World Cup winners like Jorginho and Leonardo are long gone. Zico joined the club when they were in the semi-professional second division and they have since won the a record eight times and the Asian Champions League once. Zico visits Kashima regularly to interact with fans and sponsors, as well as working with the club's youth section. He says the club is "like my son". "I watched it being born, grow and become what it is now," he said. "We have been able to take my experience in professional football and put it into practice here. A son is like that -- you educate him and watch him go through life." © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
At least 27 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid site; U.N. demands investigation
By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Crispian Balmer At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, in a third day running of chaos and bloodshed to blight the aid operation. The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of people who had left designated access routes near the distribution centre in Rafah and approached their positions. It added it was still investigating what had happened. The deaths came hours after Israel said three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, as its forces pushed ahead with a months-long offensive against Hamas militants that has laid waste to much of the enclave. Reuters could not independently verify the reports in northern and southern Gaza. A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters that its field hospital in Rafah had received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after. Video showed injured people, including at least one woman, being rushed to a medical centre on carts drawn by donkeys, before being transferred onto stretchers or into ambulances. The United Nations human rights office in Geneva said on Tuesday the impediment of access to food relief for civilians in Gaza might constitute a war crime and described attacks on people trying to access food aid as "unconscionable". The head of the U.N. agency, Volker Turk, urged a prompt and impartial investigation into the killings. "Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime," he said in a statement. The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's war-battered population, most of whom have been forced to abandon their homes to flee fighting. The Foundation's operation, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles. The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it had distributed 21 truckloads of food early on Tuesday and stressed that the reported violence had not happened within its site. "This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and control. We recognize the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when traveling to our distribution sites." Palestinians who collected food boxes on Tuesday described scenes of pandemonium, with no-one overseeing the handover of supplies or checking IDs, as the crowds jostled for provisions. "It is complete chaos and humiliation, and people have no choice but to keep coming because there is no food in Gaza," said one Palestinian, who declined to be named, adding that he was lucky to have survived the shootings outside the aid centre. MASS EVACUATIONS There have been reports of repeated killings over the past three days near Rafah as crowds gather before dawn. On Sunday, Palestinian and international officials said at least 31 people were killed and dozens more injured. On Monday, three Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians and called reports of deaths during Sunday's distribution "fabrications" by Hamas. On Tuesday, it said IDF forces had identified "a number of suspects" moving towards them while deviating from the access routes. "The forces fired evasive shots, and after they did not move away, additional shots were fired near the individual suspects who were advancing towards the forces," it said. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents of several districts in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip late on Monday, warning that the army would act forcefully against militants operating in those areas. The military told residents to head west towards the Mawasi humanitarian area. Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, and that most of its 2.3 million population has become internally displaced. The territory's health ministry said on Tuesday that the new evacuation orders could halt work at the Nasser Hospital, the largest, still-functioning medical facility in the south, endangering the lives of those being treated there. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 assault in which Hamas-led gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. In the subsequent fighting, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, local health authorities say. Meanwhile, recent efforts to secure a ceasefire appear to have stalled. Israel has said it accepts a U.S.-backed temporary truce to release hostages, while Hamas wants a permanent end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Trump asked Japan to help with Golden Dome missile shield: report
U.S. President Donald Trump discussed cooperating with Japan on developing technology for his planned Golden Dome missile defence shield during a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba this month, the Nikkei reported. The two countries are expected to work together on systems to intercept incoming threats, and Tokyo's participation could serve as a bargaining chip for it to win concessions in ongoing tariff negotiations with Washington, the paper said, without citing its sources. Trump this month said he had selected a design for the planned $175 billion defense shield and appointed U.S. Space Force General Michael Guetlein to head the project, which he wants to complete by the end of his term in 2029. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Golden Dome could cost $831 billion over two decades. Japan and the U.S. have previously collaborated on ballistic missile defense, including the joint development of an interceptor capable of striking warheads in space. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
