Russia and Japan leaders to meet amid islands spat

By Gleb Bryanski

SEOUL (Reuters) - The leaders of Russia and Japan will meet on the sidelines of a regional summit, talks certain to be dominated by their latest flare up over islands both claim.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev infuriated Tokyo by visiting one of the islands -- called the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan -- on November 1, ahead of this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Yokohama, Japan.

The Soviet Union occupied the four at the end of World War Two and the territorial row has weighed on relations between Tokyo and Moscow ever since, preventing the signing of a formal peace treaty.

"The timing (of the talks with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan) is still being agreed. They will discuss the Russian-Japanese relationship," Medvedev spokeswoman Natalya Timakova told reporters.

She said the Russian position on the disputed islands had not changed and that Japan traditionally raises the territorial dispute issue at such meetings.

Medvedev's trip to the island has prompted the two sides to put off signing a memorandum on economic cooperation that had been planned at an investment forum in Tokyo Friday, Kyodo news agency reported.

The memorandum would have reaffirmed existing plans for cooperation and efforts to boost trade and investment, it said.

"The (Russian) president's move was one that trampled on the feelings of the Japanese people," Japanese Trade Minister Akihiro Ohata was quoted as saying in parliament.