Putin aide sees Japan-Russia peace treaty talks moving steadily

September 15, 2017

MOSCOW- Valentina Matviyenko, head of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia's parliament, told a visiting Japanese ruling bloc official on Thursday that Tokyo and Moscow are steadily making progress in their talks to conclude a peace treaty to formally end their World War II hostilities.

At a meeting in the Russian capital, Matviyenko, a close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito, the coalition partner of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, agreed that it is important for Japan to Russia to make efforts for reaching an ultimate accord in the talks.

Tokyo and Moscow have still been unable to conclude a World War II peace treaty, due to their decades-old territorial dispute over four Russian-controlled northwestern Pacific islands that were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of the war. The islands claimed by Japan are known as the Northern Territories in the country. Jiji Press