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Short-term comfort for Abe in Trump’s Russia stance
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has actively pursued closer relations with Russia since his return to office in December 2012. This has included the announcement of a ‘new approach’ to bilateral relations that features high-level political engagement, an eight-point economic cooperation plan and enhanced security dialogue. Abe justifies this policy as necessary to lay the groundwork for an agreement that would settle the long-standing territorial dispute over the Russian-held Southern Kuril Islands (known as the Northern Territories in Japan). Underlying this goal is the strategic calculation that Russia does ... (full story)