Japan Today reported on October 18 that the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering signing a post-World War II peace treaty with Russia without insisting on Moscow’s recognition of Japanese ownership of four islands at the center of a territorial dispute between the two countries.

Hoping to make progress on a treaty when President Vladimir Putin visits Japan in December, the government will review its negotiation strategy, aiming to settle the issue with Russia initially handing over two smaller islands of the four held by Russia off Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, Japan Today said.

Japan had previously sought to resolve the issue of the ownership of all four islands and conclude a postwar peace treaty, from the standpoint that the Soviet Union and Russia have occupied the islands without legal grounds since the war.

The islands are known as the Northern Territories in Japan and as the Southern Kurils in Russia.

Abe and Putin are likely to discuss the decades-old territorial dispute at the summit in Yamaguchi Prefecture on December 15.  Under the new approach, the two leaders are expected to agree to continue talks over the fate of the two remaining larger islands, Etorofu and Kunashiri.

In the negotiations with Russia, Japan plans to use the term “hand over” in relation to Shikotan and the Habomai group, instead of “return,” citing the joint declaration’s terminology.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reports the government of Japan will review its standpoint on the talks with Russia over the territorial dispute in order not to bring the negotiations to a deadlock.

Japan will agree to reach peace agreement with Russia if the islands are handed over to Tokyo and it will not insist on their territorial affiliation, the Kyodo news agency said.

Russia’s Sputnik news agency reports the relations between the two states have recently been re-energized.  In September, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, during which he held three-hour talks with the Russian president.  One of the outcomes of the meeting was the announcement of Putin's visit to Japan on December 15, which had been postponed from 2014.