Russia,Japan standoff in territorial dispute

Russia and Japan today failed to calm a flaring territorial dispute in a bruising meeting of their top diplomats, with Moscow bluntly accusing Tokyo of unacceptable behaviour in the standoff.

The talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Seiji Maehara were marked by an icy atmosphere and indications of an increasingly tense stalemate over the Pacific Kuril islands dispute. Earlier, during their over two-hour meeting,

Lavrov described Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara's current visit to Moscow as timely but he had hoped the visit could take place in a more favorable political environment. Russia and Japan have long been at odds over the sovereignty of the four Pacific islands, which are called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.