Japan is making final arrangements for a key foreign policy adviser to visit Russia on Tuesday to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's summit with President Vladimir Putin in Japan next month, a government source said.
While in Russia, Shotaro Yachi, head of the National Security Council's secretariat, is expected to meet senior Russian officials including Nikolai Patrushev, a Putin aide and secretary of the Security Council of Russia, to coordinate the agenda for the summit in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the source said Saturday.
Abe and Putin will meet in Abe's home prefecture on Dec. 15.