TOKYO, February 2. /TASS/. The rhetoric of Japanese authorities on the situation around Ukraine contradicts "the spirit of good-neighborly Russian-Japanese relations," Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday.
"I've heard and read the statements from the Japanese government saying that there might be what they call 'strong actions' against Russia in case there is an alleged Russian incursion into Ukraine. As far as these 'strong actions' remarks are concerned, I think that they contradict the spirit of good-neighborly Russian-Japanese relations, they contradict the agreements between our leaders to develop all-round relations between Russia and Japan," he noted. The envoy also asserted that the remarks by the Japanese officials are "counterproductive" and "do not contribute to the creation of positive atmosphere in dialogue between Russia and Japan."
"And I would like to recommend, sincerely, to our Japanese colleagues to read again and to deeply study our proposals, our initiatives with regard to European security that we have presented to the US and NATO," the diplomat added, answering to journalists’ questions.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden during the January 21 online talks decided to continue close cooperation on the situation around Ukraine. As the head of the Japanese government told reporters, the sides confirmed the necessity to continue close cooperation directed at preventing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Japanese prime minister also stressed that both leaders confirmed that the US would "keep close contact with other allies and partners and continue communicating on the point that any attack will be met with strong action."
Lately, Ukraine and the West have been increasingly echoing claims of an alleged possible Russian "invasion" of Ukraine ever more frequently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov branded such information as an "empty and groundless" escalation of tensions, emphasizing that Russia does not pose a threat to anyone. That said, he didn’t exclude the possibility of provocations being whipped up in order to justify such claims and warned that attempts to resolve the problem in southeastern Ukraine through the use of force would have the most serious consequences.