BOCHAROV RUCHEI (Sochi) (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Kyodo news agency reported that Abe had proposed Moscow a new approach to resolve the Kuril Islands issue.
"The issue was raised in a very constructive way. The contacts will continue at the level of foreign ministers," Peskov told RIA Novosti.
A territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty after World War II behind Tokyo's claims to Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan islands and the Habomai group of islets dividing the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. Moscow maintains that the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty transferring control of the islands to the Soviet Union stipulates Russian sovereignty over the Kurils, which Tokyo classifies as its northern territories.
