Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday (January 25th) that he was still considering visiting Ukraine, as Japan chairs the G7 this year and participates alongside its Western allies in the sanctions against Moscow.
“
Nothing has been decided yet regarding my visit to Ukraine
,” Fumio Kishida told parliament.
“
I will think about it in the light of various circumstances and conditions
,” he added without giving further details.
Last official visits
Most of the other leaders of the G7 countries have already visited kyiv since the beginning of the Russian invasion last February, to show their solidarity with Ukraine more personally.
US President Joe Biden welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington a month ago and the new head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni plans to visit Ukraine soon, as his predecessor Mario Draghi had done.
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Fumio Kishida spoke several times with Volodymyr Zelensky but the two men have never met.
During a telephone exchange at the beginning of January, the second invited the first to come and see him in Ukraine.
Security difficulties
Organizing such a trip, however, poses a security headache for Tokyo, according to the Japanese press.
No Japanese prime minister in the contemporary period (post-1945) has visited a country with an active conflict on its soil.
As such a trip must receive the approval of Parliament, Japanese executive officials fear that it will be difficult to keep its date secret, according to the Japanese news agency Jiji.
Fumio Kishida's bodyguards are also said to be limited in the level of weapons they can carry and there is no legal framework in Japan allowing the country's soldiers to ensure the protection of the head of government abroad. , still according to Jiji.