<p>&nbsp;</p>
<figure id="attachment_235182" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4162px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-235182"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="700574f3"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/03/aflo_78951623.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-235182" class="wp-caption-text">As prime minister, &#8220;Shinzo&#8221; visited his close ally Vladimir Akie many times. What was the purpose of these &#8220;honeymoon&#8221; visits? This is where Japan&#8217;s diplomacy with Russia took a wrong turn.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>What Vladimir and Shinzo talked about &#8220;27 times&#8221;?</h2>
<p>Under his administration, former Prime Minister Abe visited Russia &#8220;11 times&#8221; and had a total of &#8220;27&#8221; summit meetings with President Putin.</p>
<p><strong> Since the end of last year, when Russia was massing its troops on the Ukrainian border, there was an expectation that Prime Minister Abe should play a political role in this tense time. But he was unable to do anything.</strong></p>
<p><strong> What he did do was to say at his own faction meeting, &#8216;Prime Minister Kishida is going to meet with President Putin. We must explain Japan&#8217;s position and make efforts to resolve this situation peacefully.</strong></p>
<p>The response, as if to say, &#8220;I&#8217;m not the prime minister now, so it doesn&#8217;t matter,&#8221; led to widespread disappointment even within the party. This is a far cry from the reality of Japan&#8217;s &#8220;leading politicians,&#8221; such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who whipped his old bones as a diplomatic envoy to serve the cause of world peace even after leaving office.</p>
<p>Moreover, at the time of Abe&#8217;s statement, the Japan-Russia summit phone call was still &#8220;in the process of being arranged. In other words, former Prime Minister Abe leaked &#8220;diplomatic secrets&#8221; before they were made public. Needless to say, it was frowned upon. A leading figure in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has opened his heavy mouth.</p>
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<p><strong> Abe was aiming to conclude a peace treaty with Japan in conjunction with negotiations for the return of the Northern Territories. To achieve this goal, he was probably hoping to achieve the return of at least two of the islands through economic cooperation using Abenomics.</strong></p>
<p><strong> Abe was to participate in the &#8220;Eastern Economic Forum,&#8221; but its &#8220;outcome&#8221; was &#8220;strawberry cultivation&#8221; on the four northern islands. Abe was just dancing to Putin&#8217;s tune.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>It was announced on March 21 that negotiations for a peace treaty &#8220;will not continue,&#8221; and &#8220;visa-free travel to the Northern Territories,&#8221; which has continued since 1991, will also be suspended.</p>
<p>Japan has been at the mercy of Vladimir Putin&#8217;s diplomatic maneuverings. In other words, there is no hope that former Prime Minister Abe can exert his influence as a &#8220;diplomatic card&#8221; against Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine.</p>
<p><strong> Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida know this. &#8220;The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida know this, so they are not thinking of sending Abe to Moscow as a special envoy.</strong></p>
<p>added the heavyweight lawmaker.</p>
<h2>Diplomacy with Russia needs to be summed up</h2>
<p>Former Prime Minister Abe is already a &#8220;politician of the past.</p>
<p><strong> He has ambitions for the presidency in two years&#8217; time. He wants to return to the political stage,&#8221; said a former LDP secretary-general.</strong></p>
<p>It is clear that it is former Prime Minister Abe&#8217;s desire to exert influence over the incoming administration. His political ambitions know no bounds. But now, he cannot move forward without recapitulating the honeymoon he built with Putin during his time as prime minister. This is not a personal &#8220;relationship,&#8221; but a national &#8220;diplomacy.</p>
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<p><strong> The invasion of Ukraine by a dictator has shown the inadequacy of Western leaders. Japan, among others, has been severely damaged by the negative history of the Abe administration era&#8221; (LDP member)</strong></p>
<p>In his speech, President Zelensky mentioned the &#8220;attack on Pearl Harbor. What will he appeal in his speech to the Japanese Diet? Japan&#8217;s attitude toward the Russian dictator, with whom it has had &#8220;extremely close&#8221; relations, is being questioned.</p>
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<p><em><strong> *This article is a rewrite of &#8220;The Ukraine Invasion Reveals Too Great a Sin in Abe&#8217;s Diplomacy with Russia,&#8221; originally published on March 3, 2022.</strong></em></p>
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 Shutaro Iwashiro

 AFP/Afro

 <Russia announced on March 21 that it would suspend peace treaty negotiations with Japan. It said that "the responsibility lies with Japan. Prime Minister Kishida reacted vehemently to this. Prime Minister Kishida is vehemently opposed to this and is showing strong protest. President Putin, who started this "terrible war," and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is now the head of the Japanese government.

Putin and Shinzo Abe: Too Deeply Guilty of Diplomacy with Russia

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