JAPAN SEEKS 'HIGHER DIMENSION' IN RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

JAPAN SEEKS 'HIGHER DIMENSION' IN RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda left Tokyo on April 25 for a two-day Moscow summit with President Putin and President-elect Medvedev, his first meeting as prime minister with top Russian leaders, Russian and international media reported.

Before leaving, he told reporters he wants to concentrate on "big issues" and bring bilateral relations to a "higher dimension." The Russian daily "Gazeta" wrote on April 25 that the agenda will be dominated by economic and environmental issues and plans for the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries in Hokkaido.

The paper quoted Fukuda as saying on April 24 that he will also discuss the "territorial problem" between the two countries, but it suggested that the perennial issue will arise "only in passing." Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura discussed the dispute with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on April 14, but apparently reached no breakthrough (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 16, 2008).

The "territorial problem" refers to four islands in the southern Kuriles occupied by the Red Army in the closing days of World War II, which are still claimed by Japan as its Northern Territories and whose status is the main obstacle to concluding a peace treaty between the two countries.

Japan has long maintained that signing a peace agreement will open the way for massive Japanese investment in Russia's underdeveloped Far East.

On April 25, Interfax quoted an unnamed "Kremlin source" as saying that Fukuda's visit could lead to an agreement on nuclear cooperation and the building of a high-speed railway in Russia's Far East.