Putin ready to visit Japan, expects Tokyo to set particular dates - Kremlin aide
MOSCOW. May 5 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to travel to Japan for a visit, and Moscow expects Tokyo to set particular dates for such a visit, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said.
"There are a lot of reports in the media saying that [the Japanese] premier might for the millionth time renew an invitation to Putin to visit Japan. We are ready for that and expect concrete dates for such a possible visit," Ushakov told journalists at a news briefing on Thursday.
Moscow believes Russia and Japan should continue dialogue at the top political level, Ushakov said.
The Russian president's visit to Japan has been discussed for a long time, and the first time he was invited to the country was in 2013, Ushakov said.
"Then Tokyo has postponed the dates several times, and Tokyo explained itself that the visit remained planned, that it would take place in 2014, then in 2015, but it has still not been held, as we have not received any concrete proposals on organizing the visit at these or those dates, and so the issue is still up in the air," Ushakov said.
At the same time, Putin and Abe have had several working contacts in this period, including during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Sochi in February 2014, during an APEC summit in Beijing in November 2014, at a UN General Assembly session in September 2015, and in Antalya in November 2015. Putin and Abe also had a telephone conversation on January 22, 2016.
"We agreed that, before our major official visit to Japan, Abe could make a brief trip to one of Russia's regions. It just so happened that a meeting in Sochi was proposed," Ushakov said.
