Abe hopes his talks with Putin to be frank

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes that his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled to take place on January 22, will be frank, as Abe himself said before departing for Moscow from Tokyo.

"I would like to hold thorough and frank talks with President Putin and advance peace treaty negotiations as much as possible," the Kyodo news agency cited Abe as saying.

After his visit to Moscow, the Japanese prime minister will head to Davos, Switzerland, to take part in the 2019 World Economic Forum.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference today that Tokyo "will continue to hold patient negotiations to make a peace treaty once the territorial issue is resolved," TASS reported.