Japanese Foreign Minister Could Visit Russia in October

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida could visit Russia in October, ahead of the planned visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan, Japanese media report.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – Kishida expressed his intention to visit Russia before Putin’s December visit during talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, the Kyodo news agency said.

At the start of the Wednesday talks, Lavrov said that he was "very glad" to meet with Kishida and expressed regret that the Japanese foreign minister was not in Vladivostok when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe there.

Following the meeting between Putin and Abe on the sidelines of the 2016 Eastern Economic Forum in Russia's Vladivostok on September 2, Lavrov said that the Russian leader would visit Japan by the end of the year.

According to Japanese Foreign Ministry's spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura, it is anticipated that Putin will visit Japan on December 15.