Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MOSCOW (AP) — Japan's former foreign minister has visited Moscow and passed a personal message from the Japanese prime minister to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Masahiko Komura met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Tuesday morning and passed to him an envelope which he said contained a personal message from Japanese Prime Minister Shindzo Abe to Putin. The contents of the message were not disclosed by either side.
A dispute over the islands called the southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty ending their World War II hostilities.
Lavrov said at the meeting that Russia is open to cooperate with Japan "in all areas," but did not mention the Kurils.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
