US-Russia relations 'highly significant,' says Japan after Trump-Putin call on Ukraine war

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) – The relations between the US and Russia are “highly significant,” Japan said on Thursday after a phone call between Presidents Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“It is too early to present our views, but US and Russian relationship is highly significant, so we will continue to follow that,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.

“A fair and perpetual peace in Ukraine should be realized as soon as possible,” he said, according to a recording of his news conference.

“The government is monitoring the situation with great interest.”

The statement from Tokyo came after Trump on Wednesday said he had a "lengthy and highly productive" conversation with Putin, and that their delegations agreed to “start negotiations immediately” to end the nearly three-year Ukraine war.

He also spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump later told reporters that he and Putin could soon meet in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks.

The phone calls came after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders – when Russia annexed Crimea - was unrealistic and that the US does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a negotiated settlement to end the conflict.

Hayashi refrained from commenting on Hegseth’s statement.

Following the Trump-Putin phone call, China on Thursday lauded the meeting between Washington and Moscow, emphasizing a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine.

“Russia and the US are influential major powers, and we are happy to see Russia and the US strengthen communication and dialogue on a series of international issues,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing.