Two leaders are set to discuss the long-stalled territorial dispute
AMN
Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Japan for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today. Putin will arrive in the western prefecture of Yamaguchi for a summit meeting with Abe. They will meet again in Tokyo on Friday.
The two leaders are likely to discuss about joint economic activity on the four islands. However, Russia wants any such activity to be conducted under its laws.
Abe hoping that his fourth meeting this year with the Russian president will open the door for progress in the territorial talks over Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.
Two leaders are set to discuss the long-stalled territorial dispute that has prevented the two neighbors from signing a post-World War II peace treaty.
Japan says the islands — Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group — are their inherent territory that were illegally seized by the Soviet Union after Japan’s surrender in World War II in August 1945. Russia says the Soviet Union took the islands legitimately as the result of the war.