SOCHI: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in a bid to bolster ties and seek to resolve a decades-long territorial dispute.
Tokyo-Moscow relations have been hamstrung by the row dating back to the end of World War II when Soviet troops seized the four southernmost islands in the Pacific Kuril chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.
Japan and Russia's lingering tensions have prevented them ever signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities, hindering trade and investment ties.
"This is a complex, multi-faceted issue that can only be resolved in a manner acceptable to both sides through an even deeper partnership between the two countries," Putin's chief foreign policy advisor Yury Ushakov said ahead of the visit.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in April that Russia and Japan had agreed to start negotiations on signing a peace treaty "as soon as possible" after the meeting.
His Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on a visit to Tokyo last month said Russia wants to "move forward" in relations, but is not prepared to budge on the "result of World War II".
Putin said during a public phone-in in April that he thinks "a compromise could be found at some point -- and it will be found" on the territorial dispute.
Moscow hopes the meeting will help create a "constructive atmosphere in bilateral relations", but "immediate serious progress" is unlikely, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned.
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