Japan Prime Min. Abe Holds Talks with Aide to Putin

Tokyo, June 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting with Sergei Naryshkin, visiting head of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, on Thursday. Abe and Naryshkin, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, are believed to have talked about issues related to a planned Abe-Putin meeting in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok in September and Putin's possible visit to the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi, informed sources said. Abe has sounded out Putin on visiting Yamaguchi, where the prime minister has his constituency. Through continued bilateral political dialogue, Abe hopes to make progress in the two countries' negotiations on their longstanding territorial dispute over four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan. After the meeting, Naryshkin told reporters that he conveyed Putin's heartfelt message to Abe, adding that he and the prime minister discussed issues of interest to the people of both Russia and Japan. At their meeting in the Russian city of Sochi in May, Abe and Putin agreed that the two countries will proceed with their peace treaty talks, including the handling of the disputed islands, based on a new approach. Abe and Naryshkin may have exchanged views on how to put the new approach into action, according to the sources. The four islands, located off Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II and have long been claimed by Japan. The dispute has hampered the efforts by Tokyo and Moscow to conclude a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities. END