Issue of Abe's visit to Russia was discussed, but Tokyo's intentions are not presented yet - Peskov

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. The issue regarding a visit of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Russia was discussed, but Tokyo has not yet presented its intentions, Russia's presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said commenting on publications in some Japanese media claiming the prime minister could visit Russia in April. "As you well know, the option of a visit of Japan's prime minister to Russia in this or that format was discussed at the recent meeting between Putin and Abe," the press secretary said. "They discussed an option of Abe's visit to a Russian region. We cannot give any further data. The Japanese side has not presented its intentions, thus we cannot give any other details." Japan’s Asahi reported on its website "Prime Minister Abe intends to settle the territory problem." "For that, he plans to achieve progress at talks via a dialogue with President Putin," the daily wrote. The time and place of a meeting is to be decided by the Russian side, the newspaper wrote, supposing it might take place in a Russian region. "This meeting will be rather informal and will focus on continuing the dialogue between the two leaders," Asahi quoted a Japanese governmental official. "No official documents will be signed then." On January 22, Abe and Putin in a telephone conversation agreed to continue personal contacts. On November 16, 2015, during the G20 summit in Antalya, press secretary of the Russian president said the Japanese prime minister planned to visit a Russian region before the Russian president visits Japan. The press secretary said then Putin’s visit to Japan "will be discussed further on." Read more