Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe named the position of President Vladimir Zelensky on NATO membership and settlement in Donbas as the reason for the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
In an interview with The Economist, Abe suggested that the special operation could have been avoided by changing course towards NATO membership and granting broad autonomy to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
At the same time, the former Japanese leader admitted that it would be very difficult to influence Zelensky, and only US President Joe Biden had the necessary resources, but even in this case, the President of Ukraine would not change his position.
Abe has previously urged the US to rethink its strategy on Taiwan.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in response to the request of the leaders of the Donbass republics for help. After that, the US, the EU, the UK, as well as a number of other states imposed large-scale sanctions against the Russian Federation.