Russian, Japanese foreign ministers discuss PM Abe’s possible visit to Russia

TOKYO, April 15. /TASS/. Moscow and Tokyo have agreed to work on arranging a possible non-official visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Russia, Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. "We have reached common ground that we will coordinate and prepare for the upcoming non-official visit of Shinzo Abe to Russia, including the program and particular schedule. I believe our meeting was important," Kishida said. In his interview with Mongolian, Japanese and Chinese mass media on April 12, Lavrov said Abe would visit Russia in the near future. Japanese media reports said earlier that the Japanese prime minister could visit Russia’s Sochi in late April or early May to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the possibility of Abe’s visit to Russia last week. The long-running dispute over the Southern Kuril Islands remains the main obstacle for the settlement in the relations between Russia and Japan and signing of the peace treaty. After the end of World War II, all the Kuril Islands were declared the territory of the Soviet Union. Japan claims Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai as part of its territory. Read more