Russia: Lavrov laments Japan's lack of independence in foreign policy

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that he would appreciate Japan to acquire “more independence” in its foreign policy, referring to their links with the US, during a presser with Mongolian, Japanese and Chinese media in Moscow, Tuesday. SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): "Regarding Russian-Japanese relations we consider them to be intrinsically valuable. We draw this conclusion from the fact that our leaders – President Vladimir Putin and the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe – agreed to develop cooperation in all directions: trade, economy, investments, humanitarian sphere and particularly in foreign policy." SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): "Nothing at all interferes with the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan. For this visit to take place it is necessary to set the exact date of the invitation made a long time ago." SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): "We clearly realise that unfortunately Japan is not the only country which is not quite independent in its foreign policy actions. We would appreciate if Japan acquired more independence in that. We did not touch this question during the preparations for the high-level meetings, while our Japanese colleagues on their own initiative occasionally said that they would like to stop sanctions but solidarity with western countries does not allow to do that." SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): "As for the Kuril Islands, this territory is the eastern boundary of Russian Federation. We will pay special attention to the development of infrastructure and it’s overall development particularly in social and economic field considering all the demands of the citizens who live there. No doubt that planning of measures to strengthen the military infrastructure is natural to a Video ID: 20160412-050 Video on Demand: http://www.ruptly.tv Contact: [email protected] Twitter: http://twitter.com/Ruptly Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ruptly LiveLeak: http://www.liveleak.com/c/Ruptly Vine: https://vine.co/Ruptly Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/Ruptly YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/RuptlyTV DailyMotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/ruptly