Russia Suggests Tokyo-Moscow Vice Foreign Minister Talks

Tokyo, May 12 (Jiji Press)–Mikhail Shvydkoy, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s international cultural envoy, on Tuesday proposed subcabinet-level talks between Japan and Russia to open the way for a meeting of the two countries’ foreign ministers. Tokyo and Moscow should hold discussions at a vice foreign minister-level to pave the way for talks between Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Shvydkoy said at a meeting in Tokyo with Muneo Suzuki, a ruling party member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament. The comments by Shvydkoy came after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, who oversees Asian affairs, told Suzuki in Moscow last week that Russia is prepared to arrange a Motegi-Lavrov meeting on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related meetings in the Philippines in July. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]