Honestly, we looked forward to this Saturday. Can you see what's on the screen? Yes, you're right. Those are the South Kuril Islands. A week ago, in his interview with our program, President Putin said that he doesn't plan to remove the Russian flag from there. Meanwhile, this Saturday, Putin has a separate meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Abe. At the same time, Abe today plays on his home field, being the host of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. That's why out of all of the bilateral negotiations on the margins of that summit, we're doing a separate report about the meeting between Putin and Abe.
Our staff correspondent permanently based in Japan, Sergey Mingazhev, prepared it.
He clearly sees every nuance in the behavior and reactions of the Japanese. The preparation of real sushi and sashimi, as the Japanese call them, begins with a well-chosen knife called a Yanagi-Ba. The chef explains to the first ladies of the G20 countries what blade to cut fish bones with and how a fresh wasabi root looks. Few people dared to try the green paste of a single piece of cryptomeria chopped on a grater. While the wife of Shinzo Abe acquainted the ladies with the subtleties of Japanese cuisine, her husband waited for Vladimir Putin's motorcade in another part of the city. The Russian-Japanese summit is the final chord in the program of the Russian president's visit to Osaka.
The Russian "Beryozka" and the Japanese folk song "Sakura, Sakura", performed by a mixed ensemble, ended the Russian-Japanese Bilateral Year. After the negotiations in a limited circle, Abe announced that the course towards rapprochement will still be continued.
Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan: "Starting in September of this year, Japan plans to ease the visa regime for Russian businessmen to further encourage bilateral contacts as a part of the plan of cooperation, including eight items. This is a special measure for Russia. It was also decided to simplify the procedure for issuing visas to students of 465 universities".
However, this isn't the complete abolition of visas offered by Moscow. What other progress on the peace treaty is there?
Vladimir Putin: "We proceed from the assumption that painstaking work is needed to bring Russian-Japanese relations to a qualitatively new level. It is the successes in this work that will help to build trust and good-neighborliness between the peoples of Russia and Japan and create the conditions for finding mutually acceptable solutions on the most difficult issues. In this connection, it's important that we managed to make some progress in establishing joint economic activities on the islands. We agreed on the business models for two of the five areas that Mr. Abe and I determined".
Two of the five areas of joint activities with the Japanese on the Kuril Islands have already been agreed upon. In addition to that, a considerable package of documents was adopted at the summit, including a contract on the participation of the Japanese in the development of the Arctic LNG 2 oil and gas project and the construction of Canon factories in Russia. In general, the number of Japanese companies operating in the Russian market reached 270, and trade grew by 17%. Putin invited Abe to attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. He singled out Korea from other common concerns. He told journalists that he had told the Japanese prime minister about his talks with Kim Jong-un.
Vladimir Putin: "We presume that the nuclear and missile problems on the peninsula can be resolved only by peaceful, political, and diplomatic means. A constructive, motivated dialogue between all of the countries involved is necessary. This is the only way to ensure the security and development of the common region of Northeast Asia".
As for other details, next year, Osaka will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its twin-city relations with Saint Petersburg. This tower in the most popular quarter is of the same age as the declaration of 1956, on the basis of which Russia and Japan agreed to solve the problem of the Peace Treaty.
But how can it be done if Japan connects this issue with the territorial one, and the Americans, in fact, decide where to deploy their bases on its territory? This time, Japan has a serious cause for concern from a completely unexpected side. The information that Donald Trump is ready to revise the Security Treaty with Tokyo caused a real panic here. Tokyo's degree of independence in foreign affairs is still the determining factor in solving problems with all of its neighboring countries.
Sergey Mingazhev, Alexey Pechko for VESTI on Saturday from Osaka, Japan.
