Abe Says to Invite Putin to Yamaguchi Pref.

Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Pref., Aug. 13 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Saturday that he does hope to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi, which includes Abe's constituency. Abe made the comment at a meeting of a group of his supporters in Shimonoseki in the prefecture, according to senior officials of the group who attended the gathering. When they met in Sochi, Russia, in May, Abe told Putin that he wants to invite the Russian leader to Yamaguchi. The Japanese and Russian governments are working to arrange Putin's visit to Japan within this year. Abe apparently hopes to deepen his personal relationship with Putin through the president's possible visit to Yamaguchi as well as their planned summit in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok in September, with the aim of making progress in the two countries' territorial talks over four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan. The islands were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II and have been claimed by Japan. The territorial row has blocked the efforts by Tokyo and Moscow to conclude a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities. END