TOKYO, July 10. /TASS/. Japan is not currently planning to hold political contacts with the Russian side, including on the sidelines of upcoming ASEAN events in Manila in mid-July, Japanese Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeshi Akahori said in response to a TASS reporter’s question.

"Regarding <…> possible engagement with Russia on the occasion of ASEAN foreign ministerials and similar occasions, at the moment there are no specific plans for Japan and Russia engagement at the political level," he said at a briefing discussing the results of the G7 summit in France.

In May, Muneo Suzuki, a member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, visited Moscow. Following a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, he told reporters that the foreign ministers on the two sides might meet at the ASEAN summit in Manila in July should the Japanese side request such a meeting. Commenting on Suzuki’s remark, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi emphasized that Japan currently has no specific plans for contacts with Russia at the level of foreign ministers as he added that "Tokyo is open to dialogue with Moscow."

Later, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that even as Moscow had not received requests to organize high-level meetings on the sidelines of international events from Tokyo, it was ready to consider such a possibility.