Japan's Kono to visit Moscow in mid-May for peace treaty talks

TOKYO -- Foreign Minister Taro Kono plans to visit Moscow in mid-May for a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to advance talks on a postwar peace treaty that has been stalled over a territorial dispute, a Japanese government source said Wednesday.

The two-day visit from May 11 has been scheduled in the hopes of making progress in negotiations ahead of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June for a summit of leaders of the Group of 20 major economies, to be held in Osaka.

The two foreign ministers last met in February in Munich.

Japan and Russia have been unable to sign a peace treaty more than 70 years after the end of World War II, as they remain at odds over the sovereignty of the Russia-controlled islands off the coast of Hokkaido, known as Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.

Japan maintains the Soviet Union seized the islands illegally following Japan's surrender in 1945, while Russia argues it legitimately acquired them as the outcome 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.

By holding meetings in quick succession, the Japanese government hopes to push the negotiations forward so that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe can reach some kind of agreement with Putin in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

Abe and Putin agreed last November to accelerate their talks based on a 1956 joint declaration that mentions the return of the smaller two of the four islands -- Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- once a peace treaty is concluded, but so far there has been little progress.

Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190418/p2g/00m/0na/005000c