Japan will send its foreign minister to Russia to seek a breakthrough in a decades-old territorial dispute after a Cabinet reshuffle expected in early December, government sources said Sunday.
If the trip is successful, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will visit Russia by the end of the year for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to formalize an agreement, although the prospect for a breakthrough is dim, the sources said.
Irkutsk, eastern Siberia, has been picked as the venue for the leaders' meeting.