Japan, Russia foreign ministers to hold territorial talks on May 10

TOKYO - Foreign Minister Taro Kono will make a three-day trip to Moscow to hold talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on May 10 on a territorial dispute that has kept the two countries from concluding a postwar peace treaty, Japan's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The two will hold their third meeting this year in the hopes of advancing talks on joint economic activity on the disputed islands off Hokkaido, as a trust-building measure ahead of a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June.

The disagreement over the islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, has been a major hurdle to the countries concluding a peace treaty following the end of World War II.

Japan argues the Soviet Union seized the islands lying to the east of Hokkaido illegally, while Russia argues it acquired them legitimately as a result of the war.

The foreign ministers are also expected to hold another meeting less than a month later, to coincide with security talks involving their defense ministers, to be held over two days from May 30.

Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190424/p2g/00m/0na/004000c