Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has called on Japanese politicians and public figures not to follow the policy of appeasing the aggressor, but unite and take concrete action to make Russia stop its aggression.
“One should not appease the aggressor with either comity of manner, or a kind word, or promises, or turning a blind eye… This has already happened in history, during the 1930s … History doesn’t forget – the payment is personal tragedies … Only a united, consolidated position taken by the entire civilized world unified against the aggressor, with clear demands and tough sanctions, will yield results: peace and the return of the occupied Ukrainian territory, peace in Syria, Japanese control of the Northern Territories of the Kurils Islands. This is the only way to go,” Avakov said on Facebook on Thursday while being on a four-day official visit to Japan.
He also said he had had a half-hour interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, saying that only some questions concerned cooperation of police, while most of them were devoted to politics.
Avakov said that he gave frank assessments of the current regime in Russia, pending Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tokyo in December.
“[I] spoke about the war unleashed by him in the east of Ukraine, about the occupation of Crimea… The final, edited article was in soft colors. But still, I am satisfied that the newspaper with the largest circulation in the world, being 14 million (yes, it’s 14 million!!!), distributed across entire Asia, has written about the need to maintain sanctions against Russia – from the side Japan and the G7 countries against the backdrop of ongoing aggression of Putin’s regime against Ukraine, amid reports from the front about daily shelling, reports of the dead and wounded, against the backdrop of the occupation of Crimea and Donbas,” Avakov wrote.
As reported, Avakov’s official four-day visit to Japan began on October 24. The minister’s schedule includes meetings with Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission of Japan Jun Matsumoto, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobuo Kishi and Vice-President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tomiyoshi Kenichi. Some meetings have already been held.
Avakov also visited a number of police stations and the traffic control center of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. In addition, during the visit, he holds meetings with representatives of international non-governmental organizations and business structures.
