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The Prime Minister in Action
Visit to Europe and Russia: Sixth Day
May 6, 2016
Photograph of the Prime Minister shaking hands with the President of Russia
Photograph of the Japan-Russia Summit Meeting (1)
Photograph of the Japan-Russia Summit Meeting (2)
Photograph of the Prime Minister answering questions from reporters
[Provisional Translation]
On May 6 (local time), Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Sochi in the Russian Federation.
Prime Minister Abe held talks with H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.
Prime Minister Abe said the following after the meeting,
“Over the course of the considerable time I was able to spend with President Putin, I feel that we were able to speak openly to each other and have a frank dialogue, and that we had candid discussions on the peace treaty and numerous other issues. We also had deep discussion with each other on issues other than the future of our two countries, including Ukraine, North Korea, Syria, anti-terrorism measures, and other international issues.
I also believe that I could feel a shared conviction to push for a breakthrough on the peace treaty issue, which has been stalled up to this point. I think that President Putin shares my recognition of this. We shared the view that the two of us will resolve this issue together as part of the process of constructing a future-oriented Japan-Russia relationship. We will not limit ourselves to the ideas that have been put forward up until now, and we shall advance negotiations through new approaches. We also agreed to meet again in September in Vladivostok.”
“We will resolve the Northern Territories issue, and conclude a peace treaty. Japan’s stance has been to advance peace treaty negotiations under this basic way of thinking, and President Putin shares the view with us that we must resolve this unnatural state of affairs , in which we still have not concluded a peace treaty even 70 years after World War II. However, unfortunately, it must be said that treaty negotiations have stalled. In order to make a breakthrough on this stalled issue, we must advance negotiations based on new ideas that are different from the approaches and ideas we have tried thus far. I communicated these thoughts to President Putin, and he agreed with me about this basic way of thinking. That is what we discussed.”
“Concerning a visit to Japan by President Putin, I would like to further consider the appropriate time period for that.”
