Defense chief says contacts between Russian, Japanese military officials intensify

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Contacts between the Russian and Japanese Defense Ministries have intensified recently, the parties pin high hopes on the results of today’s negotiations, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera on Tuesday. "Today we will continue to exchange views on topical security issues, the global and regional agenda, including its military and political aspect. It is important to determine jointly what contribution the defense ministries can make to relations between our countries," he said. The minister noted that "inter-ministerial contacts had intensified substantially recently." According to Shoigu, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to Japan in December 2016 and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Russia in May 2018 played a key role in that. "Under the supervision of our two countries’ leaders, the formal opening of the mutual years of Russia and Japan took place in Moscow on May 26. Such event is being held for the first time in the history of Russian-Japanese relations. I believe it will be well organized and benefit bilateral relations, including in the security sphere," he said. The Russian defense minister also noted that twelve years had passed since the Japanese defense minister’s previous visit to Moscow. "That’s why we pin high hopes on today’s meetings. We expect it to be fruitful," Shoigu added. According to the minister, "the ‘two plus two’ dialogue between the Russian and Japanese defense and foreign ministers in Tokyo last year was frank and constructive." Read more