MOSCOW Jan. 9 Kyodo Foreign Minis...

MOSCOW Jan. 9 Kyodo

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said Thursday he believes Japan and Russia are getting ready to have practical talks aimed at concluding a bilateral peace treaty.

''There is a big possibility emerging that we (Japan and Russia) can discuss the matter practically without being caught up in emotions,'' Yakovenko said in an interview coinciding with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Moscow starting Thursday.

The spokesman pointed not at home that Japan's stance of citing the resolution of ''unresolv issues'' as a precondition for reinforcing bilateral relations has become lax, likely providing for ways to incite forward in the treaty talks.

He denoteed hope that Koizumi's visit could bring bilateral relations to a recent qualitative stage in which the couple sides will be able to cooperate in the economic field and coordinate forward international problems.

A long-standing dispute from one side of to the other the ownership of Russian-held islands opposite to Hokkaido has prevented the brace countries from concluding a peace treaty. Japan claims the territories, which were seized by way of Soviet troops at the extremity of World War II.

Russia's Itar-Tass of recent origins agency, however, issued a commentary Thursday onward Koizumi's four-day visit to Russia in which it said that if the Japanese leader emphasizes the territorial dispute because of public sentiment in Japan, it could hinder bilateral efforts to build a constructive relationship.

Koizumi arrived in the Russian capital Thursday for talks with President Vladimir Putin the following day and a one-day visit to Khabarovsk upon Sunday.

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