Moscow, Aug 20 (IANS): Russia and Japan held bilateral talks here Monday over a peace treaty and territorial disputes between them.

During the talks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and his visiting Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama "discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral ties" in the light of agreements reached by the two countries' leaders, reported Xinhua citing the Russian foreign ministry.

The two sides exchanged views on organising negotiations on the peace treaty, and agreed to arrange a further round of talks via diplomatic channels, the ministry stated.

Russia and Japan are in dispute over four small islands 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 World War II.

Following an April meeting in Moscow between President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the two sides pledged to speed up talks on concluding a peace treaty.