MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Monday expressing concern over Japan’s travel warning asking its citizens to avoid travelling to Russia said Tokyo was aligned with the West and that its leadership did not want to develop relations with Moscow.
According to the Kyodo news agency Muneo Suzuki, a veteran Japanese lawmaker known for promoting close ties with Russia, was visiting Moscow for negotiations with government officials in defiance of a government advisory against such visits.
It quoted Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi as saying that a government advisory was in place asking its nationals, including lawmakers, to avoid travelling to Russia.
When asked about the issues, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Japanese leadership appeared to be seeking to put pressure on Japanese citizens who wanted to improve relations with Moscow.
“It is clear that Tokyo is dominated by figures who are not in favour of developing bilateral relations. Unfortunately, the current leadership of Japan has expressed solidarity with the unfriendly, for Russia, actions of the collective West, and this cannot but be detrimental to our bilateral relations,” Peskov said.
He added the leadership of Japan, unfortunately, does not limit itself to this attitude towards Russia and tries to pressure those who share a different point of view and try to find ways to establish links.
Tokyo and Moscow have long been engaged in a territorial dispute over four islands near the coast of Japan, that has prevented both countries from reaching a peace treaty since the end of the Second World War.
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