Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given up on hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Japan this fall, but he hopes to hold talks with him during the next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing in November, government sources said.
Instead, Abe may try to arrange for Putin to visit Japan next spring or later.
The United States has asked Japan to postpone the Putin visit, and Tokyo sees it as important to keep in step with European countries that, together with Japan and the United States, have slapped sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, the sources said Monday.