TOKYO, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - The dates of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan will be finalized after careful evaluation by Tokyo, Kyodo news agency reported Tuesday, citing Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
“We would like to decide on the dates [of Putin’s visit] after assessing various factors,” Suga said, highlighting once again Japan’s strong ties with the Group of Seven leading industrial nations, including the common view on the situation in Ukraine.
Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Putin’s plans to visit Japan remain unchanged, and said that there is no connection between the visit and the Ukrainian crisis.
“We do not associate relations between Russia and Japan with the conflict in Ukraine, or with the climate change. We have a feeling that our relations are sustainable. That is how our leaders, Vladimir Putin and [Japanese Prime Minister] Shinzo Abe described it when they had a conversation,” Lavrov added.
In February, Putin and Abe agreed that the Russian president would visit Japan in the fall.
Back in March, in response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia, the United States and the European Union introduced the first package of targeted sanctions against Russia.
As the Ukrainian crisis escalated, the United States persuaded its partners to add Russian individuals and entities to the counties’ blacklists. As a result, Norway, Canada, Australia and Japan backed the US’ sanctions.
Moscow has repeatedly called the language of sanctions counterproductive and stated that Russia is not a party to Ukraine’s domestic conflict.
