(Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.)

Japan has reaffirmed its position on the return of four islands seized by Russia, a thorny issue that hinders the two neighbors from dealing a peace treaty that formally ends wartime enmity.

Visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura says Japan insists that the peace treaty could only be signed after Russia returns all four islands to Japan, seized by the former Soviet Union in the closing days of World War II.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says a resolution to the fifty-year-old territorial dispute should proceed on the basis of mutual comprehensive cooperation.


Machimura arrived in Moscow Thursday to start his three-day visit to make preparations for Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Japan at the end of the month.

(Photo Source: AP)

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