Developing ties with Asia-Pacific countries priority for Russia: Kremlin

Russia is ready to make the development of relations with the Asia Pacific region one of its top priorities, a Kremlin spokesman said Thursday in the country's Black Sea resort here.

The Asia Pacific region boasts great potential for cooperation with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during the briefing of a summit attended by representatives from Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Nevertheless, Peskov said that it was incorrect to interpret his statement as a sign of Russia's "strategic turn toward the East."

"We hope the period of certain mutual restrictions will be passed sooner or later, but, of course, Russia retains an interest in all directions," he said, referring to the West's ongoing sanctions against Russia due to its Ukraine policy.

Moscow has been sorry about the "voluntary restrictions that countries imposed on themselves in relations with Russia," the spokesman said, adding Russia, with its unique geopolitical situation, has been interested in maintaining good relations with countries located "to the west and south" of its borders.

Russia's relations with the West soured over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and alleged involvement in the crisis in Ukraine. The United States, together with the European Union and some other allies, have brandished sanctions against Russia.

The main sanctions are about to expire this July, and some Western countries have threatened to extend these punitive measures unless the Minsk agreement, signed in February 2015 by the parties concerned to promote a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, was fully implemented.

However, Peskov said that pegging the implementation of the agreement to the lifting of the sanctions was "illogical and absurd," since the implementation does not depend on Russia, which has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukraine crisis. Endi