President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that his country is ready to take decisive steps to resolve a seven-decade territorial dispute with Japan over a string of Pacific islands controlled by Russia.

"The past should not be an obstacle to moving forward," Putin told a business forum in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok, where he shared a stage with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We have to think how to get rid of problems which do not allow us to move forward," a media report quoted him as saying He added that while Russia was ready to act decisively in pursuit of a solution to the row, all steps had to be thoroughly thought through. 

Source : QNA