Vladimir Putin says Shinzo Abe told him, could not sign peace deal with Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told him that Tokyo could not immediately sign a peace deal with Moscow without first agreeing on certain pre-conditions.

Putin, sitting alongside Abe at an economic forum in Vladivostok last month, proposed Japan and Russia conclude an unconditional peace treaty that would formally end World War Two hostilities between the two countries.