Deputy Secretary General of the Japanese Cabinet Seiji Kihara also refrained from commenting on the announcements of the United States and Germany on the supply of tanks to KievTOKYO, January 26.
/tass/. The Japanese government does not comment on the statements of former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who said that Russia's defeat in the conflict in Ukraine is unthinkable. This was stated on Thursday at a press conference in Tokyo by Deputy Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers Seiji Kihara.
"We are aware of Mr. Mori's statements, but we will refrain from commenting on them in detail," he said. Kihara also noted that Japan will continue to cooperate with the international community on the issue of Ukraine, primarily with the Group of Seven countries, in order to support Kiev and maintain the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation.
Mori on Wednesday, speaking at an official event in Tokyo, questioned the expediency of helping Ukraine and allocating funds from the budget for this, since "it is simply unthinkable that Russia would lose."
85-year-old Yoshiro Mori served as the head of the Japanese government from April 2000 to April 2001, has always been an active supporter of the development of Japanese-Russian relations. At the same time, the former head of the Japanese government has repeatedly been criticized by the public for contradictory statements on both domestic and international topics.
Seiji Kihara also refrained from commenting on the announcements of the United States and Germany on the supply of tanks to Ukraine, as well as the reaction of the Russian Federation to these steps.
"There is a lot of information about the state of the armed conflict, and I would like to refrain from a certain assessment," he said, answering a question at a press conference. At the same time, he noted that he was aware of the statements of Washington and Berlin, which "expressed their intention to continue all-round assistance to Ukraine in close cooperation."
On Wednesday, the US authorities announced their intention to transfer 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Kiev. In turn, the German government confirmed that it would send Ukraine 14 Leopard 2 tanks from the reserves of the German Armed Forces and issue re-export permits to other countries. The Norwegian and Slovak defense ministries also announced their intentions to transfer tanks to Ukraine on Wednesday. Earlier, the decision to provide Kiev with tanks was announced by the authorities of Great Britain, France and Poland.
Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev called Berlin's decision to send tanks to the Kiev authorities "extremely dangerous," according to him, it "takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation." In turn, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday that Russian forces would destroy American M1 Abrams tanks, as well as other military equipment of NATO countries, if the US administration decides to supply them to Ukraine.
