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Japanese PM may visit Russia in May: Kremlin

Xinhua, April 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may visit Russia in May, Kremlin said Wednesday.

"Yes, this may happen. Such a possibility is being examined," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Earlier in the day, it was announced that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would visit Japan on April 15 for talks with his counterpart Fumio Kishida.

"We believe that one of the goals of the upcoming ministerial meeting will be the preparation of Russian-Japanese contacts at the highest level, as it has been agreed between the leaders of the two countries," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Russia's Izvestia daily also reported, citing diplomatic sources, that Abe planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 6 in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

In February, Abe's top spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said the Japanese prime minister would make an unofficial visit to Russia to discuss a long-standing territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow, while Putin would pay a return visit to Japan later this year.

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