Putin links peace treaty with Japan to Tokyo's defence alliances

DANANG, Vietnam- 11 November 2017: President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that concluding a peace treaty with Japan would involve Russia examining how it could be affected by Tokyo's security commitments to its allies.

Russia and Japan have never formally ended their hostilities after World War Two because of a dispute over a chain of islands in the Pacific.

Putin was speaking at the end of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Vietnam at which he said he discussed talks on the treaty with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Putin told reporters that working out a peace treaty would be a long process, which people in Russia and Japan should be prepared to take more than a year to conclude.