TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not visit Russia to attend a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, a Foreign Ministry official said Friday.

Japan has officially notified Russia that Abe will skip Wednesday's event in Moscow, Hideki Uyama, deputy director-general of the ministry's European Affairs Bureau, told a committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament.

As reasons for the decision, Uyama cited the spread of novel coronavirus infections in Russia and the virus situation in Japan.

Abe was invited to the event by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The prime minister had planned to attend the ceremony and meet Putin on the sidelines to resume stalled talks to end a dispute over Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.

The last meeting between Abe and Putin took place in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East in September last year.

JIJI Press