Foreign Minister Yohei Kono on Friday urged his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov to reconsider holding a bilateral summit meeting in late February as originally planned rather than postponing it for a month as Russia proposed Thursday.
Kono told Ivanov over the phone Friday afternoon that he "cannot accept" Russia's request for postponement because the Feb. 25-26 meeting had been proposed by Ivanov himself during their talks in Moscow earlier this week, a Foreign Ministry official said.
The Japanese Embassy in Moscow was informed of the postponement request after Kono left the country for Japan. Kono heard the news while flying home.