Japan's Abe: Putin and I are determined to resolve island row

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe make a joint statement following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia January 22, 2019. Alexander Nemenov/Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had confirmed their determination to find a solution to a decades-long territorial dispute durin talks in Moscow on Tuesday.

Abe, speaking at a news conference alongside Putin, said the Japanese and Russian foreign ministers would meet in February to pursue talks about the dispute which concerns a chain of islands in the Pacific which the Soviet Union seized at the end of World War Two.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Andrew Osborn)