Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday he will meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov later this week and expressed hope for "substantial discussions" on overall bilateral ties.
The agenda for the talks Friday in Tokyo is likely to include Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's planned informal meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Russia in May and the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
Russo-Japanese ties stalled when Russia annexed the Crimean region in southern Ukraine in 2014 and intervened in a conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. But Tokyo and Moscow last October resumed high-level negotiations linked to the long-standing dispute over Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.
"With an eye on a dialogue between the country leaders, I hope to hold substantial discussions on the overall Japan-Russia relations, including the signing of a peace treaty," Kishida told a news conference.
The dispute over the four Russian-held islands has prevented the two countries from concluding a post-World War II peace treaty.
Kishida and Lavrov are also expected to exchange views over Putin's visit to Japan, which Tokyo initially hoped would take place in 2014 but has been postponed amid tension over Ukraine and other issues.
The Abe government is eager to realize Putin's trip, seeing it as a chance to advance talks on the territorial row.