Putin blames US presence in Japan a hindrance for peace between Tokyo-Moscow

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the United States' military presence in Japan was complicating the search for a formal peace treaty between Moscow and Tokyo.

Russia and Japan have been in dispute for seven decades over island territories captured by Soviet troops in the last days of World War Two. As a result, they have still not formally ended hostilities.

Putin told reporters at his annual news conference that Moscow was concerned by the deployment of a U.S. air defence system in Japan.