Komura, Naryshkin Discuss Putin's Visit to Japan

Moscow, Jan. 13 (Jiji Press)--Visiting Japanese ruling party executive Masahiko Komura and Sergei Naryshkin, a close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, held talks on Wednesday for realizing an early visit to Japan by the Russian leader. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is aiming to make a breakthrough on the two countries' longstanding territorial dispute by holding direct talks with Putin. Abe is thus expected to consider a possibility of visiting Russia before the summit of major industrial nations that will be held in Japan in late May. The territorial dispute concerns four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands, which were seized by the former Soviet Union at the end of World War II and have long been claimed by Japan. The issue has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities. At the day's meeting with Naryshkin, Komura, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, is believed to have explained Abe's determination to resolve the territorial issue, in a bid to sound out Putin's true intentions, according to sources with access to their meeting. Naryshkin, speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, serves as head of the Russian side's organizing committee for a Russian cultural festival that is held in Japan every year. He plans to attend the opening ceremony for this year's festival when he visits Japan in June. Earlier this month, Komura became chief of the Japanese side's organizing committee for the festival. Komura told Naryshkin that building multi-layered Japan-Russia relations covering a range of fields, such as politics, economy and culture, would be good for both countries. END