Abe to meet Putin in Vladivostok in September

"I would also like to talk about issues concerning a peace treaty," Abe said during a meeting with descendants of former residents of the group of islands seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.

Japan and Russia have yet to sign a peace treaty formally concluding the war due to the long-running dispute over the ownership of the four Russian-held islands -- Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group.

Abe is scheduled to hold a meeting with Putin on the occasion of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept. 2 to 3. During their previous meeting in May in Sochi, Russia, Putin invited Abe to the forum, which will bring together business and government representatives to discuss investment opportunities in Russia's Far East and the Asia-Pacific region.

Abe is eager to settle the dispute over the islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, and both he and Putin have expressed a desire to advance negotiations on the treaty.

But differences remain, with Tokyo maintaining that the peace treaty is contingent on the resolution of the territorial row, while Moscow holds that the issues are separate.

Source: Kyodo