Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday he will make a five-day trip to Moscow next week to hold peace treaty talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
The trip from Dec. 17 will be Motegi's first visit to Russia since a September Cabinet reshuffle in which he was made lead negotiator in a territorial row between the two countries.
The two men last met on the sidelines of a Group of 20 foreign ministers gathering in Nagoya in November.