Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Monday to work towards a peace treaty aimed at resolving a longstanding territorial dispute over Pacific islands, dpa reported. Although relations between the two countries have been peacefulfor decades, they have never signed a treaty formally ending hostilities dating back to World War II. "The situation that we do not have a peace treaty 67 years after the end of the war is not normal," Abe said after talks with Putin at the Kremlin, the Interfax news agency reported. The two leaders agreed to step up efforts to agree on such atreaty, Putin said. "We ordered our foreign ministries to intensify contacts to work out a solution that is acceptable to both sides," he added.
