TOKYO, September 22 (RIA Novosti) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet on the sidelines of November APEC summit in Beijing, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga said Monday.
"Yesterday Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation. The Prime Minister told Putin that he considers it important to use the arena of international events such as the APEC summit, which will be held in Beijing in November, for the bilateral meeting. Both leaders acknowledged the importance of continuing the dialogue between Japan and Russia," Suga said at the press conference.
Last time the two leaders met in early February at the opening of the Olympic Games in Sochi.
Suga refrained from answering the question whether the issue of additional sanctions against Russia was discussed during a telephone conversation.
Media reports suggested that Japan would announce a new package of sanctions against Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine.
In March, Japan suspended talks with Moscow on visa restrictions and slowed the start of negotiations on dangerous military activities in space prevention and investment cooperation. In April, the country banned visas for 23 Russian officials.
In early August, the Japanese government implemented sanctions against 39 politicians and officials, who represented the Republic of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.
Japan also implemented a ban on the import of goods from Crimea.
Putin repeatedly stated that using sanctions in foreign policy is not effective and never yields any results, warning that sanctions cause certain damage to those using this measure.
