Abe, Putin set to improve ties but breakthrough on islands unlikely

Tokyo

JAPAN and Russia look set to improve ties and clinch some business deals when their leaders meet next week, but both sides are scaling back expectations of a big breakthrough in a territorial row that has blocked a peace treaty to formally end World War II.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pledged in September to "resolve the territorial issue", wants to leave a diplomatic legacy by breaking the impasse with Russia, a strategy he hopes would help Tokyo counter a rising China.