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Russian, Japanese foreign and defense ministers to discuss security issues

Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Mikhail Galuzin said that active political dialogue between the two countries reflects "the general sustainability and promising nature of Russian-Japanese relations"

Mikhail Galuzin Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Mikhail Galuzin

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. The foreign and defense ministers of Russia and Japan will discuss the security situation in the Asia-Pacific region at a "two-plus-two" meeting scheduled to be held in Moscow on July 31, Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS.

According to him, active political dialogue between the two countries reflects "the general sustainability and promising nature of Russian-Japanese relations."

"The upcoming ‘two-plus-two’ meeting between the foreign and defense ministers of Russia and Japan will focus on military and political confidence-building measures," the ambassador said. "From this standpoint, there will be an exchange of views on the security situation in the Asia-Pacific region," Galuzin noted, adding that the four ministers "will compare their positions on pressing global and regional security-related issues."

The Russian ambassador also pointed out that Japan’s House of Councillors (upper house of parliament) President Chuichi Date would visit Moscow next week. "We expect Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to attend the Eastern Economic Forum set for September," Galuzin added.

Dialogue on the Korean Peninsula denuclearization

Moscow and Tokyo are both interested in multilateral dialogue on the Korean Peninsula denuclearization, Galuzin added.

"We [Russia and Japan] have close views on the need to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and create mechanisms to ensure sustainable peace and security in Northeast Asia," he said. "Moscow and Tokyo also recognize the need of multilateral dialogue involving all the interested parties," the ambassador added.

At the same time, Galuzin pointed to disagreements between the two countries, which concerned sanctions against North Korea. "As far as sanctions go, our positions do differ. Russia has been abiding by sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council but it does not accept any unilateral restrictions," the ambassador stressed.

The six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula denuclearization, involving the two Korean states, Japan, China, Russia and the United States, began in 2003 but were suspended in 2008 at Pyongyang’s initiative as the negotiations had not produced any real results. A road map to resolve the issue, developed by Russia and China, calls for resuming the six-party talks.

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