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Japan and Russia are likely to consider settling their decades-old territorial row by dividing the disputed Kuril Islands off Hokkaido by land area rather than by number, the Mainichi daily reported quoting Japanese diplomatic sources.
Akihiro Ota, leader of governing coalition partner Komeito, said Russian Vice Foreign Minister Andrey Denisov told him in Moscow late last November that Russia and China settled their dispute on sovereignty over disputed islands on their borders by splitting their land area.
Denisov, a former Russian ambassador to the United States, is to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shotaro Yachi in late January at the earliest.
Ota and other legislators belonging to Komeito met with Denisov in Moscow on Nov. 23.
