TOKYO, May 30. /TASS/. The trust built by late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be wasted, said Abe’s widow Akie, who met with the Russian president in Moscow on May 29.

"Some may think differently, but as for me, I do not want the trusting relationship that my husband built with President Putin during their 27 meetings to go to waste," she wrote on X. "I hope that cultural exchanges with Russia, our neighboring country, will certainly continue. I pray for peace."

During the meeting the Russian president noted that Shinzo Abe sincerely sought to fully restore Russian-Japanese cooperation and made great headway towards this goal. According to him, Russia remembers Abe's contribution to the development of cooperation. Abe's widow told the Russian president that her husband hoped to meet with him after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. She also expressed hope for the development of cultural and humanitarian exchanges between Russia and Japan.

During Abe's time in office in 2012-2020, relations with Russia developed actively. He developed friendly relations with Putin, with whom he communicated on a first name basis.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow and Tokyo were successfully moving towards a peace treaty during Abe’s premiership, while the current Japanese authorities chose the path of confrontation with Russia. However, Peskov said, there are forces in Japan that would like to restore relations with Russia.