'Create New History': Japanese PM Sees Need to Evolve Relations with Russia

Russia-Japan relations need to enter a new phase, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday at a meeting with high-ranking Japanese lawmaker Muneo Suzuki.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — Kyodo News cited Suzuki as saying that the upcoming 60th anniversary of the 1956 Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration, which reestablished diplomatic ties between the sides after the Second World War, was discussed during the meeting and Abe agreed that "it was necessary to create a new history" for Japanese-Russian bilateral relations.

Earlier in the day, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Abe would visit Russia during his May 1-7 European tour in order to discuss the issue of a peace treaty between Moscow and Tokyo, among other issues.

Earlier in April, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a meeting with Abe was scheduled for May 6 in Sochi.

Japan and Russia never signed a permanent peace treaty after World War II because of a disagreement over four islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories. The disputed islands, located in the Sea of Okhotsk, were claimed by Soviet forces at the end of the war.