April, 1992 - the first visa-free exchange between Russia and Japan.
October 11, 1993 – the visit of Russian President B.N. Yeltsin to Japan.
October 13, 1993 – the signing of the Tokyo Declaration on Russian-Japanese relations.
The Tokyo Declaration recorded intention of the parties to cooperate in matters of creation a new international order and complete normalization of Russian-Japanese relations, expand political dialogue, especially at the highest level, deepen cooperation in the field of disarmament, to develop dialogue on the problems of Asia-Pacific region.
There were also signed:
- Declaration on the prospects of trade-economic and scientific-technical relations between Russia and Japan;
- Memorandum of expanding exchanges between Russia and Japan in cultural and other fields;
- Memorandum on the implementation of free travel of citizens of the Russian Federation and Japan in each other's territory;
- Memorandum on the providing Japanese emergency humanitarian aid to the Russian Federation and other documents.
November 27, 1994 - the establishment of the Russian-Japanese Intergovernmental Commission on trade and economic issues.
The establishment of this Commission took an important role in the coordination of bilateral economic cooperation between Russia and Japan.
February 21, 1998 – the signing of Fishing Agreement.
This Agreement states that the parties had to cooperate in order to catch of living resources by Japanese fishing vessels off the islands of the Small (Lesser) Kuril Ridge, Iturup and Kunashir, as well as the conservation, rational use and reproduction of living resources on these islands.
November 13, 1998 – the signing of the Moscow Declaration on Establishing Partnership between Russia and Japan.
The Moscow Declaration contained: visa-free entry to the Southern Kuril Islands for the Japanese citizens, Japan's provision of humanitarian aid to the residents of the islands, calls of the Russian authorities to the Japanese business community to invest in the region.
October 24, 1999 – the opening of the House of Friendship between the Russian and the Japanese peoples in Yuzhno-Kurilsk.
September 5, 2000 – the official visit of Russian President V.V. Putin to Japan. Putin talked with I. Mori, focused on such key areas as strategic cooperation in international affairs, development of bilateral economic and trade relations and the peace treaty. For the first time in the history of bilateral relations, the Russian President and the Prime Minister of Japan signed a Joint Statement on cooperation between Russia and Japan in international affairs.
December 7, 2004- the signing of the Executive agreement between the Sakhalin region and Japan.
This Agreement was intended to Japan's aid for economic and social reforms in the Sakhalin region for cooperation between the Sakhalin and the Japanese enterprises, as well as cultural exchanges.
November 2, 2005 - the official visit of Russian President V.V. Putin to Japan.
During the visit, Russia and Japan signed a package of 18 documents on cooperation in combating terrorism, cooperation in the energy field, cooperation in providing assistance in criminal matters and law enforcement measures on simplification of visa regime for mutual trips of citizens and cooperation to prevent and eliminate the consequences of large-scale disasters and catastrophes; on cooperation in the field of information technology and communications; on cooperation in tourism.
March 23, 2006- Russian-Japanese consultation on the harmonization of visa-free exchanges between citizens of Russia, permanently living on the Southern Kuril Islands of the Sakhalin region and the citizens of Japan.
It was the first time for the 14-year history of visa-free exchanges, because of strong suggestion the Sakhalin region, that consultations were held on the Russian territory, but not in Japan.
11 May, 2009 - the visit of the Russian Prime Minister V. Putin to Japan.
During this visit, new progress had been made in the traditional economic and commercial projects. First, it was signed a bilateral agreement on joint exploration of oil reserves in Eastern Siberia. Japan and Russia will conduct joint geological researches, and if find a promising oil field, commercial development, Russia is planning to invite a Japanese oil company to participate in oil production. The Japanese side hopes to import crude oil to the construction Russian oil pipeline in the area of the Pacific Ocean. Second, the agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy was signed. Previously, 15% of nuclear fuel is used by Japan, it was produced in Russia. After the signing of the new agreement, this proportion will increase to 25%. Vladimir Putin also hopes that Japanese companies will increase investment in the Russian automotive industry, telecommunications industry, chemical industry, ferrous metallurgy, machine building and other activities.
November 1, 2010 – the Russian President D.A. Medvedev arrived at Kunashir.