TOKYO, December 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia and Japan have agreed to hold consultations on January 31, next year, about drafting a bilateral peace treaty, Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida announced on Thursday.

The talks will be held at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers. An agreement on holding such consultations had been reached in April during Premier Shinzo Abe's visit to Moscow. The first round of consultations took place in the Russian capital in August. By the two countries' agreement, details of the ongoing talks are not disclosed.

There is no peace treaty between Russia and Japan since the end of the Second World War. Such a treaty's signing is hampered by controversy over the southern part of the Kuril Islands.

The Japanese Foreign Minister said earlier that subsequent rounds of talks on a peace treaty might be held at the level of ministers and top leaders of the two countries.