Russia-Japan parliamentary dialogue not cut off despite international situation - lawmaker

TOKYO, May 20. /TASS/. Lawmakers from Russia and Japan continue dialogue despite the current complex international situation, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Wednesday. "International developments have not split parliamentarians of the two countries up," said Mikhail Slipenchuk, a State Duma deputy from the ruling United Russia party in charge of coordinating relations with the Japanese parliament. "Over the past few years, parliamentarians of Japan and Russia have developed relations based on trust and mutual interest," Slipenchuk, who is now in Japan as part of a Russian parliamentary delegation, told TASS, adding that there were "no subjects off limits" for deputies of the two countries. "We discuss any issue giving rise to concern to either party," he said. Issues under discussion included the crisis in Ukraine, Crimea, a peace treaty between Japan and Russia, the disputed Kuril islands and the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, he said. The two sides sought to get "a better understanding" and find "possible compromise solutions, ideas and ways out" through dialogue, Slipenchuk noted. "We are trying to understand each other better so that the two neighbouring nations can live in a world of friendship and mutual sympathy," he said. State Duma chairman Sergey Naryshkin, leading the Russian delegation to Japan, said on Wednesday at a meeting with Masaaki Yamazaki, chairman of Japan’s House of Councillors upper house of parliament, that Russian deputies’ visit aimed at "strengthening parliamentary cooperation between our countries and contacts, also with Japanese senators, because such a dialogue on the parliamentary platform is able to make interstate relations more pragmatic and better serving the interests of the people of our countries". "We believe that our bilateral interaction and cooperation between Russia and Japan in economic, political and humanitarian spheres is of great intrinsic value and helps to make a better life for the people of our countries," Naryshkin added. The visit to Japan comes amid Tokyo’s recent unfriendly steps, including sharing the West's assessment of the situation in Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. Japan introduced entry bans and asset freezes against Russian individuals who were allegedly "involved in the Ukrainian events". Five Russian banks were banned from the issuance of securities on the Japanese market. Ahead of his trip, Naryshkin said he was planning to hold "frank and substantive discussions on a whole range of issues both of bilateral and global character". He noted that inter-parliamentary ties remained among the most important factors of the interstate cooperation. Read more