MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Putin is scheduled to meet Abe at the September 2-3 Eastern Economic Forum near Russia’s Far East city of Vladivostok.
"Certainly – since there were contacts on the issue in Moscow – there will be an exchange of views," Peskov told reporters.
Addressing Japanese media reports that Tokyo’s proposal could include granting Russian citizens the right to residence on the four islands if their territorial ownership is recognized by Moscow, Peskov pointed out that the information has been officially dismissed by the Japanese government.
"Negotiations will be held tomorrow, giving assessments ahead of them on these matters would be wrong," he stressed.
Japan and Russia have never signed a permanent peace treaty after World War II due to a disagreement over four islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories. The islands, located in the Sea of Okhotsk, were claimed by Soviet forces at the end of the war.
