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Japan to keep sanctions against Russia, continue to support Ukraine — new Foreign Minister

Takeshi Iwaya also noted that "security in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region are inseparable" and "any attempt to change the status quo by force anywhere is unacceptable"

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya AP Photo/Hiro Komae

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya

© AP Photo/Hiro Komae

TOKYO, October 2. /TASS/. Japan is set to maintain the course of exerting sanctions pressure on Russia and continuing to support Ukraine, the country’s new Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya announced.

"We will continue to intensively promote support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia," he said, essentially repeating the position of the previous administration of Fumio Kishida, who was replaced as Prime Minister on October 1 by Shigeru Ishiba.

Iwaya also noted that "security in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region are inseparable" and "any attempt to change the status quo by force anywhere is unacceptable." He reiterated previous accusations against Russia, repeatedly rejected by Moscow.

After the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the Kishida government introduced several packages of sanctions against Russia. According to the Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolay Nozdrev, Tokyo has actually gone for a complete dismantling of relations with one of its main neighbors - Russia - having decided that the costs would be less than the benefits of "opportunistic joining of the anti-Russian campaign" launched by the West because of the situation in Ukraine.

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