Abe-Putin talks on island dispute to continue in Tokyo

TOKYO (AA) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss a decades-old territorial dispute and joint economic projects during a second round of talks in Tokyo on Friday.

Kyodo news agency cited a Japanese government source as saying that Tokyo would contribute 300 billion yen ($2.54 billion) to an Abe-proposed economic cooperation plan aimed at making progress in resolving disputes over four islands north of Hokkaido, which Japan sees as being occupied by Russia.

Abe and Putin held a three-hour talk Thursday at a hot spring resort in Nagato in Abe’s home prefecture, western Yamaguchi. They are due to continue discussions in Tokyo on Friday.

The Japanese government's top spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said Friday morning that Abe’s discussion of joint activities on the islands was based on the condition that any move would not undermine Japan's legal stance on the issue, according to Kyodo.

Meanwhile, a Russian news agency quoted Putin spokesman Dmitry Sergeyevich as saying that Thursday’s talks did not involve the sovereignty issue.

The meeting is the fourth this year between Abe and Putin amid the Japanese premier’s efforts for a breakthrough in a long-running dispute over ownership of the islands.

The two countries have not yet signed a peace treaty to formally end hostilities in World War II as Tokyo has refused to sign one unless -- and until -- Russia returns the islands known as the Northern Territory in Japan, and the Southern Kurils in Russia.

The four islands in question -- Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Hobamai group -- were annexed by the Soviet army in the last days of the war.

Russia maintains that sovereignty was recognized following agreements at the end of the war, however, Japan has disputed this claim -- simply seeing Moscow as having taken over the islands as war booty.

Two weeks before Putin’s visit, Abe sent his foreign minister Fumio Kishida to Moscow, presumably to finalize details or perhaps to lobby Putin one more time before the two met in Japan.

"I want to negotiate as a representative of Japan with the earnest desires of the former residents [of the disputed islands] deeply engraved in my mind," Abe said ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

While observers expect there will progress on relatively small points, such as allowing visa-free traffic to the islands, most doubt that Abe can make any strong progress on an issue that has bedeviled Russo-Japanese relations for more than 70 years.

On Friday, Abe and Putin are also due to deliver speeches at an economic forum hosted by Japanese business lobby Keidanren and visit an institute of judo -- a martial art of which Putin is known to be an enthusiast.