Russia's Putin expected to visit Japan in June - Japanese foreign minister

Image courtesy: Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Japan in June, Japan`s foreign minister said on Monday during a trip to Moscow. Taro Kono, the minister, was speaking ahead of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The two ministers are expected to identify and discuss each side's concerns and lay the groundwork for a planned summit later in the month between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Putin in Russia.

The meeting is the first since Kono and Lavrov were tapped by their leaders in December to oversee the peace treaty talks.

The agreement between Abe and Putin during a summit in Singapore in November, to negotiate on the basis of the 1956 document, has led to the view that Japan will focus on the transfer of the two  Russian-held islands first, despite its long-standing policy of seeking to resolve the status of all four islands.