Hope is scant that both leaders can finally hammer out differences over the Kuril Islands

Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to head to Japan on Thursday to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the latest bid to reach an elusive deal on a territorial dispute that has prevented their nations signing a formal treaty to end World War II.

Abe will host Putin at the hot springs in his ancestral city of Nagato in the hope of breaking the ice on an agreement over the Kuril Islands, seized by Soviet troops in 1945 and demanded back by Tokyo ever since.