ABSTRACT
Since the highpoint of relations reached in 1997, and marked by the famous El’tsin-Hashimoto ‘summit without neckties’, there has been little of substance in Russo-Japanese relations. In 1997 Tokyo had formally decoupled politics and economics (sekei fukabun now became kakudai kinko or ‘expanded cooperation’) and Hashimoto launched his Eurasian diplomatic initiative. However, El’tsin’s promise to have a peace treaty signed by the year 2000 did not materialise, as, conveniently, El’tsin stepped down at the end of 1999, leaving the problem to Putin to resolve. Under El’tsin the overemphasis on China’s role as a counterweight to the West meant there was limited room for manoeuvre in relations with Japan, which made it difficult to build a domestic constituency in favour of improving relations with Japan. To what extent has Putin been more successful?
