Kyodo: japan’s PM informs US president about preparations for Putin’s visit to Japan

TOKYO, May 16. /TASS/. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during negotiations on April 28 in the White House notified U.S. President Barack Obama about the intention to continue preparations for the visit of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to Japan, Kyodo reported on Saturday.

The agency says, at the meeting in Washington, Abe "stressed importance of the dialogue with Moscow" and said he wanted "the visit of the Russian president to Japan took place during the current year." In response, Obama expressed the opinion "it is necessary the G-7 countries pressed Moscow and called for cautiousness in the current situation," Kyodo said.

As yet, it was not possible to receive the government’s official confirmation of the information published by Kyodo.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, Moscow and Tokyo planned to hold economic consultations late May at the level of deputy ministers.

"There is an agreement to hold such consultations in the second half of May, but exact dates have not been set yet," a foreign ministry spokesman said. "Both sides have a positive attitude," he added.

The talks will focus on developing bilateral cooperation in the energy sphere and improving investment climate in Russia. Japan will be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Yasumasa Nagamine, Russia - by First Deputy Economic Development Minister Alexey Likhachev.

Consultations in Tokyo are considered as part of preparations to upcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan.

On March 31, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was not planning to visit Japan in the nearest future.

"No [such visit] is planned yet," Peskov told journalists.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry earlier said that at a meeting in Moscow in February, the diplomats of the two countries confirmed "the importance of joint work on preparing the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tokyo, including holding a session of the Russian-Japanese Inter-governmental Commission on Trade and Economic Issues and talks between foreign ministers in Moscow." However, the exact date of the visit was not announced, though the Kremlin confirmed that it received an invitation from Tokyo.