Russia Beyond the Headlines' Gleb Fedorov notes that Russia remains strongly opposed to any talk of shared sovereignty with Japan over any of the Kuril islands.

Valery Kistanov, Japan expert from the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Science, believes that the Nikkei article “was a deliberate leak” to test Russia’s ( Read more... )

Bloomberg's article suggests a compromise such as desired by the Japanese, with a transfer of sovereignty over one or more of the islands, is not in the offing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a conciliatory tone before talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a territorial dispute that’s prevented the countries from signing a ( Read more... )

Earlier this month, Paul Goble at Window on Eurasia linked/a> to "Экономические последствия распада РФ. Только факты, без эмоций", translated by Google as "The economic consequences of the collapse of the Russian Federation. Just the facts, without emotion". This article imagined a scenario where the Russian Federation would come apart at the seams ( Read more... )

Writing for Bloomberg, David Tweed and Ott Ummelas describe how Russian moves in Ukraine are undermining its relationship with non-Chinese East Asia, particularly Japan but also South Korea. (China, conversely, may do nicely.)

As a convoy of white trucks heading from Moscow to Ukraine raises alarm about a potential Russian invasion, Vladimir Putin ( Read more... )

At Asia Times one Stephen Blank has a column up arguing that, notwithstanding the Russo-Japanese standoff over the Kuril Islands, each country's fear of isolation in Asia and their mutual desire in developing Japan as a market for Russian natural gas might lead to a breakthrough.

First, China's overweening pressure on Japan since 2010 may ( Read more... )