Japan to hold virtual call with US President Biden & other leaders to discuss Ukraine war

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is slated to speak with American President Joe Biden over a secure virtual call also involving other leaders over the situation in Ukraine as Russa troops launched an offensive in the eastern Donbass region, Tokyo’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno informed on April 18. "Participation of Prime Minister Kishida in this conversation is planned. We intend to express our firm position on the situation in Ukraine," Matsuno stated at a press conference on Monday. 

To discuss our continued support for Ukraine: White House 

Separately in an official statement, the White House informed that US President Joe Biden will "convene a secure video call with allies and partners to discuss our continued support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable.” The video call will start at 13:45 GMT on Tuesday. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) jointly announced a barrage of sanctions under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act in a coordinated effort with the United States, EU and the allies. 

In the wake of the ruthless war, Japan restricted payments to dozens of Russian individuals including President Vladimir Putin. It designated several Russian banks in its list of embargoes. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida revoked Russia’s “most favoured nation” trade status and banned cryptocurrency exchanges in a retaliatory response to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and sanctioned the deputy chiefs of staff for President Vladimir Putin’s administration, the head of the Chechen Republic, and executives of companies that are closely associated with Kremlin and funded Putin’s war. 

In response to Japan’s sanctions, Russia unilaterally withdrew from negotiations aimed at brokering a World War II peace treaty that the two nations never officially signed. "The latest situation has been all caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said as he labelled Russia’s rampant move as "extremely unjustifiable and absolutely unacceptable.” Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement separately that it stalled talks "due to the impossibility of discussing the core document on bilateral relations with a country that has taken an openly hostile position and is striving to cause harm to the interests of our country."

A Kremlin official informed Russian state-affiliated agencies on condition of anonymity that Moscow has "no plans to continue peace treaty talks with Japan. It’s obvious because there is no way of discussing the signing of a basic document for bilateral relations with a country that has taken an openly unfriendly position."