Japan should persuade its fellow G7 nations to ease sanctions against Russia to achieve progress in its ongoing effort to mend ties with Moscow.
“Up until now Japan has insisted that, as a G7 member, it was forced to impose sanctions against Russia while, at the same time, trying to go easy on Moscow and taking its time adopting such sanctions,” Kazuhiko Togo, a former diplomat and a respected authority in Japanese-Russian relations, told RIA Novosti.
“Japan should try and make the G7 members realize that President Obama’s notion of Vladimir Putin being a bad guy and, therefore, deserving sanctions to get better is wrong,” Mr. Togo added.
He underscored the importance of Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida’s upcoming trip to Moscow and President Putin’s visit to Tokyo and the need for a negotiated solution to the long-running territorial dispute between the two countries.
