Jellyfish in Murky Water, or Operation «Japanese Hostage»
Exactly 70 years ago, in October 1956, the USSR and Japan adopted a Joint Declaration under which the countries announced the end of the war, restored diplomatic relations, and officially recorded the USSR’s agreement to transfer the Habomai and Shikotan islands to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty. But the treaty was never signed. Now Russia and Japan have reached a critical peak in relations between the countries that, over all these years, were if not allies, then not enemies either — economic cooperation between them only grew. Even after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Japan remained one of the largest importers of Russian LNG.
#diplomacy #hostages #China #Russia #sanctions #specialservices #FSB #spyscandal #Japan