Japan confirms plans for Abe’s meeting with Putin in New York

TOKYO, September 25. /TASS/. Tokyo has officially confirmed the plans to hold a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin in New York when the two leaders will take part in the UN General Assembly’s session. "As for the high-level meeting between the Japanese and Russian leaders, it is scheduled for September 28 in the framework of the UN General Assembly’s session," Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. The Japanese side expects to focus on the Russian leader’s visit to Japan and advancing the dialogue on concluding the peace agreement and resolving the territorial dispute, he said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Putin will hold talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama and Japan’s Abe during his stay for the UN General Assembly’s session. Peskov told journalists that talks with President Obama and Prime Minister Abe had been "agreed" and "added to the schedule," noting that both meetings were expected to take place on the same day. He also confirmed that Putin is due to meet with UN chief Ban Ki-moon while in New York. The Russian leader will address the UN General Assembly on Monday. Putin’s contacts with the Japanese prime minister have also become less frequent due to events in Ukraine and Tokyo’s joining Western sanctions against Moscow. The Russian president was expected to make a visit to Japan, but Tokyo has not confirmed its timeframe since last year, although it sent a respective invitation to Moscow a long time ago.