OREANDA-NEWS  The total amount of assistance to Ukraine from Japan amounted to about $ 12 billion. This was stated by Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in response to a journalist's request, the Reuters news agency reports.

"As for the amount of aid, as you said, Japan has announced more than $12 billion in aid, and it is being progressively implemented. We will continue this work together with the Ukrainian government and government agencies, as well as with the international community," the head of the Foreign Ministry said.

At the same time, Takeshi Iwaya avoided answering the question about the theft of funds provided by Ukrainian officials. According to him, he is not familiar with these data and is not aware of them.

Earlier it became known that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan began discussing the creation of an "Asian version of NATO", in connection with which a special committee was created at the headquarters of the party. It is claimed that the committee was created on the instructions of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has long promoted the idea of creating an "Asian NATO". In his opinion, the basis of this alliance should be a military alliance between Japan and the United States with the involvement of a number of other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.