Overview

• Vladimir Putin met Akie Abe at the Kremlin on May 29 to honor her late husband’s vision of a postwar peace treaty.
• He recalled 27 meetings with Shinzo Abe during the former premier’s nearly nine-year tenure and said the Ukraine conflict makes fulfilling that dream impossible.
• Putin presented flowers and lent his presidential limousine so Akie Abe could attend a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre.
• Negotiations remain frozen over the Northern Territories dispute and Japan’s support for sanctions on Russia related to the 2022 Ukraine invasion.
• Tokyo said Akie Abe traveled in a private capacity and that the government had not been notified in advance of her Moscow visit.