MOSCOW (Kyodo) The new administration will work to improve relations with Russia, Upper House President Satsuki Eda told his counterpart, Sergei Mironov, in Moscow on Monday.
Eda told a joint news conference after the meeting that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama places as much emphasis on bilateral ties as the previous administration and the government "will speed up (the process of) improving ties."
"Having good relations in the business, social, and political spheres will facilitate resolving the territorial dispute," said Eda, who is in Moscow on the first visit to Russia in about 10 years by an Upper House president.
Mironov, chairman of the Council of Federation, the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament, expressed hope for encouraging exchanges between Russian and Japanese lawmakers.
Eda and Mironov did not touch on the controversial issue of a revised Japanese law enacted in July that declared the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido an "integral part" of Japan.
The law prompted the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament to adopt a special statement calling on President Dmitry Medvedev to freeze visa-free exchanges between Japanese nationals and local residents of the islands.
Tokyo has been aiming to regain control of all four islands, which were seized by Soviet forces at the end of World War II. The dispute has kept both nations from signing a bilateral peace treaty.