Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will travel to Russia on Dec. 3 for talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to lay the groundwork for a bilateral summit in Japan in mid-December, according to the Kremlin.
Kishida's trip follows his talks with Lavrov in New York in September, when they decided on another meeting in Russia next month to prepare for Russian President Vladimir Putin's Japan visit.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Putin will hold talks over two days from Dec. 15 in Abe's home base of Yamaguchi Prefecture.