Russia and Japan to hold new peace treaty talks
Japanese Foreign Minister to visit Moscow in mid-May
Photo: Reuters
/NOVOSTIVL/ Foreign Minister Taro Kono plans to visit Moscow in mid-May for a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to advance postwar peace treaty talks that have stalled over a territorial dispute, a Japanese government source said Wednesday. This article appeared in The Japan Times.
The two-day visit from May 11 has been scheduled in the hopes of making progress in the negotiations ahead of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka.
The foreign ministers are also expected to hold another meeting less than a month later to coincide with security talks involving the countries’ defense ministers to be held over two days from May 30.
Japan and Russia have been unable to sign a peace treaty more than 70 years after the end of World War II, as they remain at odds over the sovereignty of Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Hokkaido, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
