Japan's Abe says talks with Putin moving towards peace treaty

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were moving towards a peace treaty.

Russia and Japan have not signed a peace treaty since World War II because of a dispute about Pacific islands known in Russia as the Kuriles and in Japan as the Northern Territories.

Abe also said after a meeting with Putin in Vladivostok that the head of Japan's self-defence forces would visit Russia in October.

He added that it was necessary to resolve the problem of kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korea and that he had received Putin's support on this.