Russia is ready to accept Japan's potential offer of dialogue, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, according to local media, at a time when bilateral relations have deteriorated sharply in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
At a meeting of an international forum in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Putin said that it is Japan that closed the window on dialogue, as the Asian country has imposed sanctions on Moscow in tandem with other Group of Seven democracies.
"If you think that the time has come for some kind of dialogue and believe that it's possible for Japan to somehow take the initiative, it's always good to maintain a kind of dialogue," Putin was quoted as saying by Russia's major news agency Tass.
"You asked me if we are ready to respond, we are, provided that the party that closed these doors initiates it," Putin added, according to the news agency.
On Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno refrained from directly addressing Putin's remarks, saying Tokyo will react "accordingly" to issues relating to Russia as a neighbor and in terms of "our national interests."
Matsuno, the top government spokesman, said at a news conference in Tokyo that the priority is to have Russia end its invasion "as soon as possible," without elaborating on whether Japan is willing to offer to engage in dialogue with Russia in the near future.