SINGAPORE -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Wednesday to accelerate talks toward concluding a peace treaty based on a 1956 declaration, which stipulates the return of two of four northern islands to Japan.
While the Japanese side has not abandoned its stance of ultimately retrieving all four islands, Abe's acceptance of the 1956 declaration as the foundation of peace treaty talks signals a new flexibility on a long-standing territorial issue.
