Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to step up efforts to resolve a long-standing territorial dispute between their countries and sign a postwar peace treaty, calling it their "historical duty."
"The new relationship of cooperation between Japan and Russia is becoming more apparent thanks to our work," Abe said in a speech at a regional economic forum in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.
"And beyond that, we have a historical duty to sign a peace treaty. Let's fulfill our responsibility to history. Let's sign a peace treaty and set free the unlimited potential of our people," the prime minister said.