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Japan's PM hopes to make progress towards peace treaty during talks with Putin

Japanese Prime Minister Abe is set to firmly outline the path towards signing a peace treaty

TOKYO, June 26. /TASS/. During his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Osaka, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes to discuss a peace treaty between the two nations and make some progress on the issue, a senior Japanese official said on Wednesday.

Japanese politician Muneo Suzuki, who is actively involved in dialogue with Russia, said Abe made the statement during their consultations that took place earlier on Wednesday.

"[Prime Minister] Abe is set to firmly outline the path towards signing a peace treaty on the basis of trust relationship with President Putin," the Kyodo news agency quoted Suzuki as saying.

A Japanese foreign ministry source earlier said that the exact date and agenda of the Russian-Japanese talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka are still being coordinated.

Since the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been holding consultations in order to clinch a peace treaty as a follow-up to World War II. The Kuril Islands issue remains the sticking point since after WWII the islands were handed over to the Soviet Union while Japan laid claims to the four southern islands. In 1956, the two countries signed a joint declaration on ending the state of war and restoring diplomatic and all other relations, however, a peace treaty has still not been reached. Moscow has stated many times that Russia’s sovereignty over the islands cannot be called into question.