Putin visited Japan, and gave Koizumi a beautiful painting of the Moscow River. The two leaders ate sushi, talked about Putin’s practice of judoka, and left all the lingering issues between the countries unresolved, as if nothing has changed since 1945. Russia Blog has written before about the ongoing rivalry between Russia and Japan for Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands, if you haven’t read the post – take your time, it’s a good read, and you will learn that Russia and Japan are officially still in a state of war.
Everything wasn’t that bad though, Putin invited the Japanese Prime-Minister to visit Moscow some time next year to give it another try. At the same time, Russian Far East officials signed 18 agreements on economic cooperation between the two countries; one of them involves Japan participating in the construction of the Skvorodino-Nahodka pipe line, which will deliver Siberian oil to Beijing and Tokyo.
Also, today in Uzbekistan, Colonel Mack Cover of the US Army presented the Uzbekistani General Alisher Sabirov with a folded and framed American flag, and a few Uzbek privates received American recognition awards. At 3:40 pm (2:40 am West Coast Time) an American transport plane left Uzbekistan, ending the American military presence in that country; now again it is the turn of the Russians.
