Japanese Prime Minister commented on the situation around Ukraine

Fumio KishidaTOKYO Feb 17Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during a meeting with representatives of his faction, expressed the opinion that Tokyo should join efforts to reduce tensions around Ukraine through diplomacy. «As tensions (around Ukraine — ed.) persist, no scenario will not come as a surprise. Our country should also make efforts to reduce tensions (in this region — ed.) through diplomacy,» the Kyodo news agency quoted the head of the Japanese government as saying. The Japanese government is considering imposing various options for sanctions against Russia in the event of an escalation in Ukraine. In particular, according to media reports, options are being considered for export restrictions on high-tech goods and the freezing of assets of legal entities and individuals from the environment of the Russian president. At present, coordination is underway between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. Earlier, Kishida, at a meeting with the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said that if we assume that sanctions against Russia will be introduced, then their specific content will be coordinated with the United States and European The plans attributed to Russia to escalate the situation around Ukraine are categorically denied in Moscow and constantly declare that they are not threatening anyone, and all such statements are used as an excuse to place more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, Russia does not create any pretexts for a conflict situation around Ukraine. According to him, Russia does not rule out that the hysteria around Ukraine, hyped by the West, is aimed at covering Kiev's line of sabotaging the Minsk agreements on Donbass. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, the US and NATO information hysteria over Ukraine is generously framed by lies and fakes. In addition, Russia has repeatedly stated that it is counterproductive to talk to it in the language of sanctions. Ukraine