TOKYO, December 8. /TASS/. The Japanese Foreign Ministry has officially announced Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Japan on December 15-16.

"We hope that President Putin's visit will facilitate further development of relations between our countries," the Foreign Ministry said in an official statement published on Thursday.

The statement said that the Russian leader will hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the city of Nagato (Yamaguchi prefecture) and Tokyo.

The sides are currently engaged in active preparations for Putin’s visit to Japan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS earlier that Moscow hopes to step up economic contacts with Tokyo while the topic of signing a peace treaty "is being coordinated" at the expert level.