Kremlin - Putin-Abe meeting unlikely to result in serious progress over disputed islands

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony to award the Hero of Labor at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, April 30, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday is unlikely to result in serious progress over the disputed Kurile Islands, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

"It is hardly possible to expect imminent and serious progress, because this topic is pretty sensitive and it demands a very scrupulous, long and, what is more important, consistent work at the level of experts," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.