More than 140 people from Russia and the Donbass republics, including Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, have been blacklisted by Japan.
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, eight Russian officials, business people and their relatives, among them Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, along with more than 130 people from the Donbass republics, have been affected by Japan’s new set of sanctions.
Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics leaders, are both on the denylist. The Foreign Ministry said that the restrictive measures imposed by the Japanese government on Russia, given its special military operation in Ukraine, entail a freeze on the assets of those individuals in Japan.
Seventy-one Russian companies, including shipbuilding and research and defense companies, have also been banned from exporting. Almaz-Antey, Russia’s state-owned manufacturer of anti-aircraft systems, was one of the companies affected by the sanctions.
Moreover, there is also a ban on exporting quantum computers, 3D printers and other high technology products to Russia. In this regard, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu said that Japan would gradually cancel Russian oil imports in accordance with the G7’s recent decision, which includes the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan.
#Japan announced new sanctions against #Russia on Tuesday that will freeze the assets of more individuals and ban exports of cutting-edge products to certain Russian entities, such as scientific research institutions. There has been no response yet from the Russian side. pic.twitter.com/jrChzY1hid
— CGTN Global Business (@CGTNGlobalBiz) May 10, 2022
Along these lines, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that for a nation that relies heavily on energy imports, cutting out Russian oil is a “very difficult decision,” so it will take time, the minister said.
Since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine last February 24, Japan has supported the sanctions regime imposed against Russia primarily by Western countries and backed by allies of the West in Europe. Tokyo has frozen the assets of Russian individuals, placed an import ban on specific products, and started to phase out imports of Russian coal, accounting for some eleven percent of the country’s coal needs.
In this context, relations between Japan and Russia have been strained. Russia barred entry to the country of 63 Japanese officials on May 4. The list included senior Japanese officials, namely the prime minister, the minister of foreign affairs, and the defense, finance, and justice ministers.
