* Japanese PM Abe to meet Putin, with business leaders in
tow
* Territorial dispute has clouded ties since World War Two
* Japan seeks proposal for gas pipeline participation
By Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW, April 29 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe hopes talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday
will revive efforts to end a territorial dispute that has
prevented the nations signing a treaty to end World War Two.
Japan also expects Russia to present a proposal for Japan’s
participation in building a pipeline connecting East Siberian
gas fields and a planned $38 billion Vladivostok gas hub built
by state-controlled Russian export monopoly Gazprom.
It is unclear whether Abe, whose talks with Putin will be
the first full-fledged Russo-Japanese summit in Moscow in a
decade, will leave with progress toward either of those goals,
despite areas of interest that converge.
Japan is the largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
and sees Russia as a strategic partner as it looks to diversify
and cut the costs of LNG imports, which shot up after a 2011
disaster at its Fukushima nuclear plant.
Russia is seeking to firm up its footing in Asia as it
warily watches China’s growth – despite warm ties with Beijing –
and the U.S. “pivot” to the Pacific. Russia could use Japanese
money and know-how to develop its sparsely populated far east.
But Russia’s interest in increasing commerce with Japan will
not necessarily lead to progress in the dispute over four small
islands in the Pacific, known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia
and the Northern Territories in Japan.
The islands were seized by the Soviet Union after it
declared war on Japan in August 1945 and days before Japan
surrendered, forcing about 17,000 Japanese to flee. They are
near rich fishing grounds.
The dispute has prevented Russia and Japan from concluding a
peace treaty and clouded ties ever since.
Senior Russian and Japanese officials have discussed the
territorial dispute repeatedly in recent years, including at
bilateral talks between the heads of state on the sidelines of
international meetings, but have made little apparent progress.
“I would like to agree on a new start to the protracted
negotiations on a peace treaty,” Abe said in an interview shown
on Russian state television before the visit, speaking through
an interpreter. He arrived in Moscow on Sunday.
Russia has frequently signalled that Japan should focus on
economic relations and not get too hung up on the islands. The
Kremlin last week repeated its message that a solution to the
territorial dispute is not a prerequisite for increased trade.
“The Russian side proceeds from the position that dialogue
(on a peace treaty) should be held in a calm, respectful
atmosphere in parallel with the development of the entire range
of Russo-Japanese relations,” Putin’s press service said.
Dmitry Medvedev, the ally Putin steered into the Kremlin for
a four year term in 2008-2012, and is now prime minister,
angered Japan by making the first visit to the islands by a
Russian president in 2010.
Japanese officials have suggested economic ties would
develop faster if the territorial dispute were resolved.
Abe will be accompanied by a 120-strong business delegation,
Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko told
Reuters last week. He said one aim was “to convince Russia of
the merits of having a good long-term relationship with Japan.”
“Through forming strong personal ties between the leaders,
we want to make Russia feel that by quickly solving the Northern
Territories issue, Japan can contribute to the development of
Russia and Siberia in particular,” Seko said.
Abe’s trip follows two months of talks on expanding
gas-supply agreements in which Japan has been pressing Gazprom
to present a detailed plan of the Vladivostok project that would
spell out the potential role of Japanese companies.
Seko said Japan wants to sign up to 20 memoranda of
understanding between Japanese and Russian companies during the
visit, but that a major deal on the Vladivostok project was
unlikely.
The Kremlin said the leaders will discuss international
issues including tense situation on the Korean peninsula.
(Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski in Tokyo; Editing by
Stephen Powell)
