TOKYO, June 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian and Japanese deputy foreign ministers may discuss the long-running territorial dispute over the Kuril islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, at a meeting in Moscow on June 20, the Asahi newspaper said on Wednesday.
Japanese Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Masaji Matsuyama will visit Moscow shortly after the G8 summit in the United Kingdom and will meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov. The Japanese official is also expected to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to be held on June 20-22.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Moscow on April 29 that the two states have agreed to resume negotiations on a peace treaty. The two leaders may meet again on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, to be held on June 17-18.
Russian-Japanese relations have been overshadowed by a long-running territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands in the north Pacific. The two states never signed a permanent peace treaty following the end of World War II.
The row over the islands - which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories - has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from signing a permanent peace treaty since the end of World War II.
The disputed islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai are still claimed by Japan. They were occupied by Soviet forces at the end of World War II.
