Iran Press/Europe: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok were moving towards a peace treaty.
Japanese Prime Minister also said after a meeting with Putin that the head of Japan’s self-defense forces would visit Russia in October.
Abe added that it was necessary to resolve the problem of kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korea and that he had received Putin’s support on this.
Russian and Japanese militaries are cooperating for the first time, Putin said before the meeting.
Russia and Japan have not signed a peace treaty since World War II because of a dispute about Pacific islands known in Russia as the Kuriles and in Japan as the Northern Territories.
Meeting in Moscow in Aug. 01, the Russian and Japanese foreign and defense ministers discussed international security and strengthening trust between the two countries.
The 2+2 format -- including both the foreign and defense ministers of Russia and Japan -- was created in 2013 under an agreement by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to settle the Kuril Islands dispute.
The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed between the Allies and Japan, states that Japan must give up "all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands," but also does not recognize the Soviet Union's sovereignty over them.
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Russia, Japan foreign, defense ministers meet in Moscow
