Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Saturday started a two-day visit to Russia for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over a territorial row that has prevented the two nations from signing a peace treaty.
A government jet carrying Mori and his entourage left Tokyo's Haneda airport in the morning and arrived in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, the venue for the Japan-Russia summit, later in the afternoon.
Accompanying Mori on the trip are three lawmakers from the ruling coalition, including Muneo Suzuki, a Russian expert and member of Mori's Liberal Democratic Party. The other two are Yoshio Urushibara of the New Komeito party and Yuriko Koike of the New Conservative Party.