Japan and Russia have agreed to hold joint military exercises and combine forces over cyber security. The decisions were announced during ministerial meetings in Tokyo, their highest-level talks between the two countries in years.<br /><br />Relations between the two powers, which have been frosty for decades, appeared to be warming a little – with both sides saying they were keen to strengthen the relationship without jeopardising existing ties elsewhere.<br /><br />Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “Such meetings are not a format that would cause problems for the Japan-US relationship. And we hope that the Japan-US relationship wouldn’t get in the way of cooperation with Russia. When we create friendly relationships with one party, we don’t do it to antagonise another.”<br /><br />Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said: “Japan and Russia are key players in the East Asia region, and deepening security cooperation between the two countries will contribute to regional peace and stability.”<br /><br />The two countries never countries never signed a bilateral peace accord after World War II, due to a territorial dispute over four islands in the Pacific Ocean – named the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern territories by Japan.<br /><br />Russia said, however, that these talks might have brought them a step closer to finally signing a treaty.
