Putin invites Japanese PM to visit Russia: press service

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit Moscow in the year 2013, the Kremlin press service said Friday.

According to a statement posted on the Kremlin website, Putin spoke to Abe by phone and congratulated him on his election as the new head of the Japanese government.

The two leaders highlighted their mutual interest in widening bilateral relations in trade, economy, investment, science, technology sectors and also discussed situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Abe told Putin the two sides should find a "mutually acceptable " solution to the disputed islands that were called the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty since the end of the second World War.

Abe was elected as Japan's new prime minister Wednesday and he immediately formed a "crisis breakthrough" cabinet which he said will mainly focus on reconstructing quake-hit north area and revitalize Japan's stagnant economy.