Japan urges new era in relations with Russia

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to contribute to a new era in relations between the two countries that are strained over a decades-long territorial dispute.

Abe made the request during a speech to the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok on Saturday following a meeting with Putin a day earlier.

"Let's put an end to this abnormal situation which has lasted 70 years, and together start to build a new epoch in Russia-Japan ties that will last the next 70 years," Abe said.

He further proposed to the Russian leader that they should meet annually in Vladivostok in a bid to hammer out their differences.

Putin, for his part, said that while both Tokyo and Moscow wanted to defend their national interests, they needed to end the row once and for all.

"Today it is obvious that we can't let the chances that we have slide by," he said, adding, "Each of us looks at this problem through the prism of their national interests but we all agree on one thing - we need to solve the problem.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin and Abe had agreed to continue talks on the territorial dispute over the Kurile Islands, also known as the Northern Territories in Japan.

SS