Japan postpones Putin's visit over Ukraine conflict, devises package of sanctions on Russia
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has recalled the invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a state visit to Japan this autumn due to the conflict in Ukraine, Ukrinform reports with a reference to Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
Washington asked Tokyo to postpone Putin’s visit because of tensions between Moscow and the West amid the Ukrainian crisis.
According to the Japanese agency, the Russian President’s state visit to Japan has been postponed until the spring of 2015 or even later. Abe and Putin, however, still hope to hold talks during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s summit in Beijing in November.
As it was reported before, last spring Shinzo Abe invited the Russian president to visit Japan. In winter Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Putin had accepted the invitation.
Moreover, Japan is preparing to impose another package of sanctions on Russia. It provides suspension of banking operations with Rusian enterprises. At the moment the measures to be taken against Russia’s fiancial sector are being refined. “The sanctions will be tough,” lenta.ru reports referring to the Japanese newspaper Asahi.
The first sanctions were introduced on March, 18 after Russia annexed Crimea.
