By CCTV correspondent Daria Bondarchuk

BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Senior Russian and Japanese diplomats have met in Moscow to discuss ending a long-standing territorial dispute between the two countries. The officials were set to discuss a group of islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories. More talks are expected to be held in the fall when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Japan.

High-ranking Russian and Japanese officials meet in Moscow to discuss bilateral and international cooperation, as well as pressing international and regional topics.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and his Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama are expected to discuss economic ties, defense and energy cooperation, and of course the main parameters and modalities for upcoming peace agreement negotiations.

During this two-day meeting the diplomats are expected to consider next phases of negotiations in regard to the Kuril Islands, also known as Northern Territories in Japan.

The relations between the two countries remain strained over a long-standing territorial dispute over the four islands. The two states never signed a permanent peace treaty following the end of World War II because of the disagreements over the jurisdiction over the disputed territories.

This two-day visit follows a top-level meeting that took place earlier this year, when Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In April, Russian and Japanese leaders agreed to resume the dialogue and instructed their foreign political departments to intensify the search for a mutually acceptable solution.

The idea of a possible hikiwake, a term meaning compromise borrowed from the Japanese martial art of dzudo, favored by Vladimir Putin, has been floating in the air since March last year.

It remains to be seen whether this visit by the Japanese officials will result in a thaw that would finally break the chill in relations with Russia, and whether progress on the territorial dispute will be made when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to visit Japan this fall.

(Source: cntv.cn)