Japan and Russia have agreed in principle to schedule an official visit to Japan by Russian President Vladimir Putin from Sept. 3 to 6, several sources close to the Japanese government said Saturday.
It is expected that Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, will officially set the date for Putin's visit when they hold talks during the Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting in Miyazaki on July 12 and 13, the sources said.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori hopes the envisaged meeting with Putin will help the two nations to resolve a long-standing dispute over Russian-held islands off Hokkaido and make way for the signing of a bilateral peace treaty by the end of the year, they said.