Energy keeps Japan-Russia ties hanging on by a thread

Moscow leverages Tokyo's need for fossil fuels in bid to boost war-battered economy Energy is a key foreign policy issue for both Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Nikkei and Reuters) TOKYO -- Seven decades after agreeing to restore diplomatic ties, Russia and Japan now share only a tenuous relationship, built largely on a shared interest in trade in energy.