The governments of Japan and Russia have agreed to avoid a recurrence of an incident in August in which a Japanese fisherman was killed when Russia's coast guard fired at a Japanese fishing boat.

The two sides held a meeting in Moscow on Thursday in line with a framework agreement for Japanese fishing around four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.

They agreed that the Japanese embassy and its consulate general in Russia will hold regular meetings with Russia's border guard.

The Japanese representative called on Russia to act with utmost restraint in the future. He also demanded the return of the fishing boat, which is still being held by Russia.

The Russian representative said he regrets the death of the Japanese fisherman in the incident, but replied that returning the boat is difficult because of restrictions in their domestic law.