Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has told a Russian official who is close to President Vladimir Putin that the United States is aware of preparations for a presidential visit to Tokyo later this year, sources said Wednesday.
Abe told Russian State Duma chairman Sergey Naryshkin in talks on May 21 that he had informed U.S. President Barack Obama of the plan when they met in Washington in April. Abe said he had underscored to Obama the importance of dialogue between Tokyo and Moscow and expressed a willingness to make Putin's visit happen, the sources said.
Abe has been seeking ways to initiate dialogue with Putin to break the impasse in a long-standing dispute over the ownership of four islands off the coast of Hokkaido.