Former Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama hopes that Russian-Japanese relations will be back in a favorable direction, can visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to Japan.

"Between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe And President Putin has until now formed friendships And, unfortunately, due to the fact that Japan joined the economic sanctions (against Russia - ed.) this relationship has deteriorated. It seems to me that if the Russian President Putin will visit this year Japan, the relationship of the Russian-Japanese have the opportunity to go back favorable direction, " said Hatoyama Last news on the sidelines of SPIEF-2015.

Japan After the EU And the US imposed penalties on a number of Russian bureaucrats And credit organizations of the Russian Federation and froze work on a number of agreements. Punishment relative to Russia imposed by Western countries because of their positions on Crimea And Ukraine. Over the past year the sanctions list, many times replenished with new individuals And legal entities. Summer 2014 was added And sectoral economic penalties. In response, Russia restricted imports of food items from countries that have entered against her punishment: USA, EU, Canada, Australia And Norway.

The politician said that the important factor is that all information about the current crisis in Ukraine arrives in Japan via a specific filter, which reduces the chances of normalizing relations.

"I think that Japan And Russia should be friends. And just when Japan And Russia were obliged again to make friends And connections were obliged to become stronger, came the Ukrainian crisis, And all the information that was presented to Japan, she received it from the EU, from America, And there are some issues, " said Hatoyama.

sections: Politics