The possibility of a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is being worked out, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik on Thursday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2018) The possibility of a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is being worked out, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the NHK broadcaster reported that next week, Kono planned to hold negotiations with Lavrov on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to conclude a bilateral peace treaty. The Russian Division of the Japanese Foreign Ministry told Sputnik that the meeting had not been agreed on yet.
"Yes, a big number of meetings is being worked out, including the one with our Japanese colleagues," Zakharova said, answering a question as to whether Lavrov's meeting with Kono on the sidelines of UNGA was possible.
Last week, Putin proposed at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) that a peace treaty with Japan should be signed by the end of the year without any preconditions. Speaking about the issue of the four disputed South Kuril Islands, Putin suggested including a provision on Moscow's and Tokyo's commitment to resolve the issue within the text of the document.
