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Russia ready to continue peace treaty dialogue with Japan - Putin

HANOI, November 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is ready to continue dialogue with Japan on a peace treaty and look for mutually acceptable ways to settle the problem, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday.

A 60-year-old dispute over the ownership of four Kuril Range islands, off Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, has prevented the two nations from signing a peace treaty that would formally end their World War II hostilities. Tokyo wants Moscow to cede control over the territories, disputing the legitimacy of their annexation by the Soviet Union in 1945.

"We are continuing the dialogue on the peace treaty. We intend to keep cooperating on this issue. We will look for mutually acceptable ways to settle the dispute together with you," Putin told Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his first ever meeting with Japan's new premier.

Putin said bilateral relations are at a high level and that Russia will create necessary conditions for cooperation on all directions.

"Trade turnover, humanitarian cooperation, reciprocal investments are growing," he said.