OREANDA-NEWS.Moscow offered Tokyo to completely refuse visas and expects to continue the discussion on this topic. This was announced on Friday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono. Minister added that he expects to continue the dialogue in this area.

“We reminded today of the long-standing Russian proposal to switch to a full visa-free regime between the Russian Federation and Japan, starting with trips that are related to business and tourism purposes, the minister said.“ We hope that the dialogue will continue”. “As a first step, we recalled the initiative of President Russia Vladimir Putin to introduce a regime of free movement between all residents of the Sakhalin Region and residents of the Hokkaido Prefecture”, the Russian Foreign Minister added.

Russia and Japan agreed on approaches to continue visa-free exchanges between residents of the southern part of the Kuriles and Japan, the Russian minister added. "In accordance with the agreement of our leaders, we agreed on approaches to the continuation of visa-free exchanges between residents of the southern Kuriles and Japanese citizens in the course of those schemes that were agreed and tested in previous years", he said. "These procedures greatly facilitate the movement of Japanese citizens to the South Island Kuril ridge".

It was about the introduction of a visa-free regime between the island of Hokkaido and Sakhalin. Then it was noted that such an agreement should be signed during the visit of Vladimir Putin to Osaka, which will take place within the framework of the G20 summit. “Our Japanese colleagues expressed their appreciation for the consideration of their wishes”, Lavrov added.