Japan PM Fumio Kishida announces fresh salvo of sanctions against Russia amid Ukraine war

Furthering Japan's retaliatory measures against Russia in view of the latter's continuing military offensive in Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday announced a fresh barrage of economic sanctions against the Kremlin. The new list of embargoes announced against Russia includes a ban on imports of Russian gold and giving accounting, trust and other services to Moscow, NHK World-Japan reported. PM Kishida also announced that Japan will freeze assets of an additional 70 Russian individuals and organizations as well as impose a ban on exports to 90 military-linked organizations.

Earlier on June 26, Kishida travelled to Germany to attend the G7 summit. During the summit in southern Germany's Schloss Elmau, Kishida and other Group of Seven (G7) leaders discussed security and diplomatic issues. In the meeting, Kishida talked about the crisis in Ukraine and stressed that the world is at crossroads in history and is being put to the test on whether or not it can keep international order on the basis of rules, as per the NHK World - Japan report. He further emphasized that frameworks like the United Nations Security Council have not been able to address the current situation appropriately. In his meeting, Kishida committed to bolstering international order on the basis of rule of law and highlighted that other countries should not learn wrong lessons from the conflict in Ukraine. 

It is pertinent to mention here that ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Japan and its allies have been imposing sanctions against Russia and delivering assistance to Ukraine. Earlier on June 7, the Japanese government announced sanctions against two Russian banks and one Belarusian bank. Japan will freeze the assets of the Russian Agricultural Bank, Credits Bank of Moscow as well as Belarusian bank of Development and Reconstruction, TASS report. The new measures announced by the Japanese government will come into effect on July 7. Furthermore, the Japanese government has announced a ban on the export of goods that help in the "building up industrial infrastructure."

Japan announces financial support for Ukraine 

In addition to sanctions, Japan has also been supporting Ukraine using military and economic support. Earlier on June 7, Suzuki Takako, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and Sergiy Korsunky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, signed an agreement for additional financial support of 65 billion yen for the "Emergency Economic Reconstruction Development Policy Loan." According to the statement released by the Japanese government, the program is aimed at providing additional financial support as parallel financing with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to meet the short-term financial demand of Ukraine.

Image: AP