LOUGH ERNE (Northern Ireland), June 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
The Kremlin website said in a Russian-language statement on Tuesday that the two leaders “exchanged opinions on various aspects of bilateral relations.”
The Japanese premier said through an interpreter ahead of the meeting that he expected “a fruitful exchange of opinions on politics, culture, security issues and the peace treaty problem.”
“And I hope that today’s meeting will give another additional impetus to our bilateral relations,” Abe said.
Putin, in his turn, said that the two states are currently engaged “in a constructive dialog.”
Russian-Japanese relations have been overshadowed by a long-running territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands in the north Pacific. The four disputed islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - were occupied by Soviet forces at the end of World War II and are still claimed by Japan.
The two states never signed a permanent peace treaty following the end of World War II because of the row over the islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories.
