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Senior Japan's ruling party official to visit Russia on ties

Xinhua, January 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Vice President of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Masahiko Komura said here Wednesday that he will pay a five-day visit to Russia from Sunday to help reach the goal of a Japan visit by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Komura told reporters at the LDP headquarters here that he hopes the visit could help improve bilateral ties and resolve bilateral lingering territorial dispute over a series of islands north off Japan's Hokkaido. The dispute prevents Japan and Russia from reaching a peace treaty since the end of World War II.

Japan planned to invite Putin to visit Japan last year but bilateral ties were scratched since Japan joined the United States and some European countries to impose sanctions against Russia over Ukrainian jitters.

Local reports said that Shinzo Abe, LDP's president and Japanese prime minister, is expected to give Komura a letter addressed to the Russian president. Abe is also considering a Russia visit in the spring for talks with Putin, according to Japan's Kyodo News.

Komura plans to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and chairman of the State Duma, or the lower house, Sergey Naryshkin, a close aide of the president, during his stay in Russia, said Kyodo. Enditem