TOKYO: Russian leader Vladimir Putin hosted the widow of assassinated former Japanese prime minister ABE Shinzo, the Kremlin said, five months after then US president-elect Donald Trump welcomed her at Mar-a-Lago.

Akie Abe was not in Russia in an official capacity, and Tokyo — whose relations with Moscow are frosty — said Friday it had not communicated with the 62-year-old about the visit.

Putin said it had been Abe’s “dream” to conclude “a peace treaty between our nations”, according to a Kremlin statement in English published on Thursday.

“The current situation differs; we will not address that aspect today,” Putin said, offering Abe flowers and reportedly his presidential limousine to go to a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre.

While Putin made a trip to Abe’s little-visited home prefecture Yamaguchi in 2016, Japan-Russia relations — while never warm — have deteriorated sharply since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Akie Abe, who also met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, said her late husband had met Putin no fewer than 27 times.

“I might add that even after the onset of the challenging situation concerning Ukraine, my husband hoped to meet with you. Regrettably, circumstances prevented further meetings: his life was cut short,” the Kremlin quoted Abe as saying.

Born to a wealthy Japanese family, she married Abe in 1987 and rose to prominence during his terms as prime minister from 2006-7 and 2012-20.

As Japan’s longest-serving premier, Abe became one of the country’s most recognisable political figures, known for cultivating international alliances and his “Abenomics” economic strategy.

He was shot and killed while speaking at a political campaign rally on July 8, 2022.

Abe was also close to Trump during the US president’s first term, gifting him a gold-coloured golf club that the American admitted in 2023 to temporarily misplacing.

AFP