RPT-Japan PM to cut trip short, visit Russia for ties

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TOKYO, April 16 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will cut short a planned overseas trip and visit Russia later this month to improve ties between the former World War Two foes, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Fukuda has cancelled tentative plans to visit Britain, France and Germany in early May due in part to a tight parliamentary schedule at home, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said.

But the Japanese prime minister will visit Russia for three days from April 25 for talks with President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, he said.

Fukuda has said he wants to meet leaders of Group of Eight countries before hosting the annual G8 summit in Hokkaido on July 7-9.

Fukuda plans to have separate talks with Putin and Medvedev on April 26 on a range of bilateral and global issues including a long-running territorial row and global warming, Machimura said.

Fukuda's visit to Russia is aimed at raising bilateral ties to a "new dimension", Machimura told reporters.

In talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura pressed Russia to end a territorial row over tiny islands that has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty.

The dispute over the islands, known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, has overshadowed Russo-Japanese relations for more than 60 years.