“Tension around Ukraine is growing,” Hayashi is quoted by TASS.
He stressed that "diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving this crisis are intensifying."
Earlier, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Russia Dmitry Kozak, following the Normandy format talks in Berlin, said that the situation with the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine is currently a stalemate.
He also added that the negotiations in the Normandy format in Berlin ended without tangible results.