During the first visit of Japan's prime minister to Russia in over a decade on Monday, leaders of the two countries expressed "firm determination to conclude a peace treaty" after 67 years of largely futile attempts to resolve the territorial row over the Kuril Islands.
The four islands, with a total size five times the territory of Moscow, prevented Russia and Japan from concluding a peace treaty following World War II.
Japan called for the disputed archipelago, which had been seized by the Soviet Union in 1945, to be returned, but Russia stayed firm in its sovereignty claims over the territory.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to "build new momentum" and "set a future course" for Russia-Japan relations. "I feel that we have established personal and trusting relations," Abe said at a news conference after his talks with Putin, Interfax reported. "We came to the shared opinion that we should intensify contacts between our two countries' leaders in the future."
Read more: Russia, Japan 'Determined' to Conclude Peace Treaty | News | The Moscow Times
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