MILAN - Russia is willing to continue contacts with Japan, but it is Tokyo that should display the initiative now, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
‘We are ready to continue relations with our Japanese friends, but the puck is on Japan’s side,’ Putin said at a press conference in Milan on Friday.
Russian-Japanese contacts were suspended not at Russia’s initiative, Putin said.
‘It was not our initiative that the Japanese side has frozen virtually all contacts on the political level. This is not our choice,’ he said.
Putin confirmed that Russia is seeking to expand contacts with the Asia-Pacific region, noting that this is not a political decision. ‘This can be explained by the fact that we have long been acting in this direction – I mean the economic development rates in the Asia-Pacific region. It would be stupid not to take advantage of China’s economic growth,’ he said.
