TOKYO, May 27 (RIA Novosti) – Japan hopes that dialogue between Kiev and Moscow progresses after last Sunday’s presidential election in Ukraine, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday.
“We hope that Russia and Ukraine use the presidential vote in Ukraine as a favorable chance for developing bilateral dialogue, a diplomatic dialogue, and we also believe the situation in Ukraine normalizes,” Kishida told journalists in Tokyo.
Commenting on victims of the Ukrainian Army’s operation that targeted the Donetsk airport on Monday, Kishida criticized the actions of federalists “aimed at seizing administrative buildings.”
Over 50 members of local self-defense forces and nearly the same number of civilians were killed in clashes on Monday with pro-Kiev troops in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, said Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Kishida said however, that Japan “insists that … the Ukrainian government shows restraint and responsibility.”
The Japanese foreign minister congratulated Petro Poroshenko on his victory in the Ukrainian presidential race which “except for some parts in the country’s east, were free, fair and were held in a calm atmosphere.”
He said “a dialogue within the country” should continue in an effort to ensure peace and stability in Ukraine, improve the country’s economic situation and reinstate democracy.
The May 25 early presidential election in Ukraine came amid a large-scale military operation launched by the Kiev regime to crack down on protesters in the east refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the government.
Billionaire Poroshenko garnered 54.5 percent of the vote in Ukraine’s presidential election with 95 percent of ballots counted, the country’s Central Election Commission announced Tuesday.
