L"AQUILA (Italy), July 9 (RIA Novosti) -...

Japanese tourists frequently visit the islands, where many of their ancestors were buried long ago.

Prikhodko said, however, that Moscow saw no reason to scrap the visa-free travel arrangements.

"The visa-free system is a demonstration of our openness, a mechanism of building trust... and an instrument of humanitarian exchanges," he said.

The lengthy dispute over the islands has so far prevented Russia and Japan from signing a formal WWII peace treaty. The islands were annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of the war.