Abe abandons June timeline for Japan-Russia peace treaty: source
2019-04-19 11:26:16 source：Japan Times
April 19, 2019
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given up on reaching a broad agreement on a Japan-Russia peace treaty when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June amid persisting differences over how to settle a long-standing territorial dispute, a government source said Thursday.
Instead, the two leaders may agree on visa-free travel between the Russian-held region where the four disputed islands are located and Hokkaido when they meet on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, the source said.
Abe had been hoping to secure a promise from Putin to hand over two of the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils.
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