TOKYO, February 14. /TASS/. Tokyo’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has urged Japanese nationals to immediately leave Ukraine. "It is necessary to immediately evacuate in the safest way possible," he told journalists in Honolulu, Hawaii.
"Diplomatic efforts to address the situation are continuing," Kyodo news agency quotes the minister, "but the situation may deteriorate rapidly."
The Japanese Foreign Ministry is now contacting its citizens in Ukraine by e-mail and urging them to leave the country immediately. On Monday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry reduced its number of embassy staff in Kiev, leaving only essential personnel in the Eastern European country.
The West and Kiev have recently been echoing allegations about Russia’s potential invasion of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded", serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such claims and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have serious consequences.