YAMAGUCHI, JAPAN — (CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin touched down in the home town of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday afternoon, local time, his first official visit to the country in 11 years.
Economic and security issues will be at the forefront of talks between the two leaders, as Japan looks to shore up a weak economy and Russia turns to the east to avoid US and European sanctions.
Putin had originally been planning to arrive just after 2pm, local time, but his flight was delayed for more than an hour.
He will be staying in Japan for less than two days, including one night in Abe’s hometown of Yamaguchi before traveling to Tokyo on Friday.
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Much of Putin’s visit expected to focus around a little known chain of islands off Japan’s northern coast, called the Kuril Islands.
Four of the islands, Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, were occupied by Russia three days after the end of World War II, giving them complete control of the Kuril chain.
Japan still considers those four islands part of its territory, a sticking point in relations between the two countries for the past 71 years.
Tokyo is hoping to make progress on having the islands returned but experts told CNN talks were unlikely to yield results.
“I have a hard time imagining Putin signing an agreement with Japan ceding even a few of the islands because Russian policy is so nationalistic these days,” Gerry Hudson, an associate at Ohio State University’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies told CNN in an email.
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Former US diplomat and adjunct senior fellow at the RAND think tank in Washington, William Courtney, told CNN Putin’s visit to Japan was sending a message to the United States.
“Russia hopes to weaken support for US military basing and deployments, and to undermine public support in Japan for increasing military preparedness,” he said.
But Putin isn’t the only world leader wooing Japan — his rare visit comes less than a month after Abe became the first world leader to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump and Abe had a “very candid discussion” in New York on November 17, according to the Japanese prime minister, during what he described as an “unofficial” meeting.
“I am very honored to see the President-elect ahead of other world leaders,” Abe told reporters after the discussion. “The Japan-US alliance is the axis of Japan’s diplomacy and security. The alliance becomes alive only when there is trust between us. I would like to build such a trust with Mr Trump.”
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. (PHOTO: Russian press pool)
