Putin arrives in Japan over 2 hours late for talks with Abe

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at Japan's Ube Airport in Yamaguchi prefecture Thursday afternoon, about two and a half hours behind schedule for his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Putin, originally set to arrive in the Ube Airport around 14:10 p.m. local time, arrived late due to "late departure", according to media service personnel here.

It would mean that a meeting between Putin and Abe in a traditional Japanese hotel originally set at 16:00 p.m. local time has also to be delayed and the talks between the two will be notably shortened, according to media service here.

The two leaders are expected to hold a meeting addressing territorial disputes and a postwar peace treaty here later in the day, before having another round of talks focusing on economic cooperation in Tokyo Friday.

Prospects of solving the territorial dispute, however, are slim, as differences over the issue are hard to iron out.

"I hope the meeting could be productive for the Russia-Japan relations, but it will be very difficult to solve the territorial issues," said a Russian national here working for a local media, adding that it is an issue concerning national interests.

Russia and Japan have not signed a peace treaty formalizing the end of World War II, mainly due to a territory row over four small islands in the Pacific which are called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.

Japan maintains that the four islands are its inherent territory and that Russia illegally occupied them after Japan's surrender in World War II, while Russia sees the seizure as legitimate and urges Japan to recognize the outcome of the war.

Putin, whose visit was initially eyed in 2014 but postponed due to deterioration of bilateral ties following the Ukraine crisis, will be the first Russian president to travel to Japan for a bilateral meeting in 11 years. Endit