Russia and Japan 'far from partners': Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow and Tokyo are still "far from being partners" despite renewed efforts to resolve a decades-old conflict over disputed islands. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are to meet in Moscow next Tuesday for talks on the strategic Kuril islands seized by the Soviet army in the final days of World War II. Lavrov, speaking during an annual conference, set a confrontational tone however.