MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) -Japan will determine its course of action with regard to Russia in close cooperation with the European Union, Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, said Monday at a press conference in Tokyo.
“We hope that steps will be taken to establish a long-term truce [in Ukraine]. Japan will closely monitor the development of the situation ... The Japanese government will make a decision about [its line of] behavior [in regard to Russia], on the basis of close cooperation with the European Union,” Suga said.
Officials from Kiev, Ukraine's southern regions, Russia and the OSCE met Friday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in an attempt to find a solution to the Ukrainian crisis.
Participants of the contact group on Ukrainian reconciliation have signed a protocol of 12 provisions that include a ceasefire deal, OSCE representative Heidi Tagliavini said Friday.
She called the signing “good news.”
The truce agreement came into force at 6 p.m. (15:00 GMT) Friday.
Yet, the European Union plans to announce another round of sanctions against Russia on Monday, a number of European politicians said late Friday.
In response, Moscow reiterated Saturday the European Union's plan to announce additional sanctions against Russia signals its direct support of Kiev’s "War Party," which is dissatisfied with the results of Friday’s Minsk meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine.
Russia will "certainly" react to new sanctions should they be implemented, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
