Moscow blames Tokyo for cutting Russia-Japan contacts

Russia and Japan have cut their contacts due to official Tokyo's fault, Tass quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying on Friday.

After a year of hesitations, the Japanese authorities are still undecided if the country's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida should pay a visit to Russia under the previously reached agreement.

"We have to draw attention to the fact of free interpretation by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of facts concerning Russian-Japanese bilateral relations," the ministry went on to say.

"He was indulging in wishful thinking when he said that Tokyo was not to blame for the disruption of high-level political contacts, including on matters related to the conclusion of a peace treaty between the two countries," the Russian foreign ministry stressed.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a very accurate description to the real state of Russian-Japanese relations on April 16 when he said that today the dialogue had practically been wound down on the initiative of the Japanese side."

Fumio Kishida knows very well about the agreed schedule of political contacts, including the visit by the Japanese foreign minister to Russia, the statement said

Naturally, it should be implemented. But for some unknown reason, Tokyo has been unable to make a decision on Kishida's visit for more than 12 months, the Russian Foreign Ministry added.

The February consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers, mentioned by the Japanese minister, had not provided for any meaningful discussion of the peace treaty, the ministry added.