Over 27 summit meetings, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has cajoled, coaxed and wheedled Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to break a decades-long territorial dispute that has left their nations without a World War II peace treaty.
But there has been little to no headway. The Mainichi daily said on Friday that talks have taken on a “whiff of futility”, while Yomiuri daily pointedly laid the blame on “the stubborn stance taken by the Russian side”.
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