MOSCOW—Russia’s diplomatic outreach to Japan over a 70-year territorial dispute is aimed partly at securing a more valuable prize for the Kremlin: new political inroads with one of the U.S.’s biggest regional allies. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Moscow on Tuesday, their third meeting in three months, but experts said any hopes of resolving the dispute over the Kuril Islands—an important objective for Mr. Abe—remained slim.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 22, 2019 16:52 UTC