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Russia hopes to enhance cooperation with Japan: official

Xinhua, March 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Monday that his country wants to boost economic cooperation and "increase interaction in international affairs" with Japan.

Morgulov said this in an interview ahead of the visit of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Japan, scheduled for mid-April.

"In general, our position is that Russian-Japanese relations need to be freed as soon as possible from unrelated factors and artificial build-ups," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Morgulov as saying.

He said Lavrov planned to discuss with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida "the full range of issues of bilateral relations and to exchange views on major regional and international issues."

He said one of the issues to be discussed during Lavrov's visit would be preparation for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Russia, the date of which he declined to disclose.

Abe's top spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said on Feb. 24 that Abe planned to pay "an official visit" to Russia and discuss a long-standing territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow.

Tokyo has been keen to resolve its territorial dispute with Moscow over four Pacific islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, which has prevented both sides from inking a peace treaty after World War II. Endi