TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday (March 20) for talks, during which they were expected to discuss various issues including territorial disputes and economic cooperation.
Japan and Russia agreed in December to launch talks on joint economic activities on disputed islands at the center of the territorial row as a step toward concluding a peace treaty formally ending World War Two.
The islands in the Western Pacific, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, were seized by Soviet forces at the end of the war and 17,000 Japanese residents were forced to flee.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to visit Russia this year to speed up talks to resolve the dispute and try to conclude a peace treaty officially ending the World War Two hostilities.
