Japanese prime minister’s visit to Russia will take place before Putin’s visit to Tokyo - Russian deputy foreign minister

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Russia will take place before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tokyo, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Friday. "We expect Mr Abe to visit us first," Morgulov said answering a question on possible dates of Putin’s visit to Japan. The leaders of Russia and Sochi met in Sochi at the beginning of May. Soon after the meeting, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that Putin may visit Tokyo by the end of 2016. On June 22 another round of consultations was held in Tokyo on issues of peace treaty between Russia and Japan. Among participants in talks were Japanese government's envoy for relations with Russia Tikahito Harada and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov. The new round of talks on peace treaty may take place before the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok scheduled for September 2-3. Earlier, Kazunori Tanaka, the secretary general for foreign relations of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, said that Abe’s visit to Vladivostok is planned for September. Russia and Japan have no peace treaty signed after World War II. Settlement of the problem inherited by Russia’s diplomacy from the Soviet Union is hampered by the years-long dispute over the four islands of Russia’s Southern Kurils - Shikotan, Khabomai, Iturup and Kunashir, which Japan calls its northern territories. After World War II, in September 1945, Japan signed the capitulation, and in February 1946, the Kuril Islands were declared territories of the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, Moscow did not recognize the territorial problem, but in October 1993, when Russian president Boris Yeltsin was on an official visit in Japan, the existence of the problem was confirmed officially. However, the two countries have reached no compromise over the dispute yet. Read more