Japan PM Ishiba axes Russia cooperation post, signalling tougher stance against Moscow

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi confirmed the decision on Monday, telling reporters that Ishiba had personally chosen to abolish the post.

Critics argue that Abe’s multiple meetings with Putin were little more than a charade on the Russian leader’s part, designed to extract concessions while holding out false hope for a resolution over the islands – known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils.

“What is really interesting to me is not that this post has been abolished, but that it lasted so long,” said James Brown, an expert on Japan-Russia ties and a professor of international relations and at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.