The Japanese government announced today that it will ban direct investment in Russia as part of the economic sanctions imposed on Moscow for its special military operation in Ukraine.
Based on the Currency and Foreign Trade Law, the new package will come into effect on May 12, according to an official statement.
The measures include the freezing of assets for 398 people and 28 Russian organizations, including the two daughters of President Vladimir Putin, the wife of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as the banks Sberbank and Alfa Bank, through of which transactions may not be carried out either.
In addition, Tokyo will suspend imports of machinery, wood, vodka and other goods from the Eurasian country.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference that his government must “impose tough sanctions” while working with the international community “to prevent further escalation of the crisis and achieve a ceasefire as soon as possible.” .
Since the beginning of the Russian military operation on February 24, Japan has coordinated all its punitive actions with the United States and the other members of the Group of Seven (Germany, Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom). By the way, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajárova, indicated that Tokyo “complies with the instructions it receives from the other side of the ocean and imposes an ideological agenda on its foreign partners,” reported the Sputnik news agency.
The official warned of new countermeasures and stressed that the current Japanese authorities “systematically destroy the positive development of mutually beneficial cooperation painstakingly built by their predecessors for many years.”
The Russian campaign responds to a request for help from the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, in the face of increasing attacks from kyiv.
President Putin stressed that the objective of the operation is to defend the population of Donbass, along with the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.
He also emphasized that the Kremlin will not allow kyiv to acquire nuclear weapons, which constitutes a danger to the security of his country.
He indicated that other conditions for the end of hostilities are the non-admission of the country to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the establishment of guarantees of military neutrality of that State and the recognition of the reunification of Crimea with Russia.
