Kremlin: Japan's PM Abe to visit Putin in Russia next week

MOSCOW (AP) - The Kremlin has announced that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Russia next week to meet with President Vladimir Putin, a step toward deepening relations overshadowed by a World War II territorial dispute.

Saturday's announcement said Putin would host Abe next Friday in Sochi, the Black Sea city where the 2014 Winter Olympics were held.

The foreign ministers of both countries met two weeks ago and agreed to schedule a meeting of their leaders this year, but no date had been officially announced.

Abe has been pushing to make progress in the dispute over Russian-held islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the southern Kurils in Russia, which has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their World War II hostilities.