On Thursday, the Japanese government imposed sanctions on four major Russian banks and frozen the assets of Russia’s oligarchs to increase pressure after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Ministry of Finance said the sanctions will block the assets of VTB Bank, Sovcombank, Novicombank and Otocrity Bank from April 2. Japan has previously sanctioned three Russian banks: VEB, Promsvyazbank and Bank Rossiya.
Russia’s oligarch assets will also be blocked in Japan. The Japanese government has also imposed sanctions on 18 more Russian officials and 7 Belarusian leaders, including Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The ministry added that Japan would tighten restrictions on the export of regulated items to Belarus.
The new sanctions follow Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s recent announcement to sanction Belarus for allowing Russian troops to use its territory to initiate an invasion of Ukraine.
“As the only country to have been bombed in the war, and as the prime minister elected from Hiroshima, where the bomb was dropped, I held a summit diplomacy and international conference that threatened by the use of nuclear weapons, or that the use of nuclear weapons would never occur. Insisted. Accepted. “Kishida said Quote Thursday’s saying by Kyodo News.
Fumio Kishida said he had called Poland’s Prime Minister Mateush Morawicki before the new sanctions, saying that Japan was ready to open the door to Ukrainian refugees.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is likely to face Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century. About half of the refugees are currently in Poland.
“To show solidarity with the Ukrainian people, we will continue to accept people seeking refuge in third countries,” Kishida said, with the first focus on people with Japanese relatives and friends. I added.
Kishida also requested Morawicki to help Japanese captured in Ukraine enter Poland by land. This request is the Prime Minister of Poland’s promise to him full support.
The Japanese Prime Minister also met with German President Frank Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday, saying that the two countries will work closely on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Japan has joined the United States and other Western countries by banning Russian banks from the SWIFT Global Interbank Network. It also blocked the assets of several Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, and banned exports to 49 Russian entities.
“Japan will implement it firmly [the sanctions] Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters Thursday, referring to groups in seven developed countries.
The Government of Japan has also promised to provide Ukraine with $ 100 million in emergency humanitarian assistance and allow Ukrainians in Japan to extend their visas.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Aldgra Fredly is a Malaysia-based freelance writer featuring the Epoch Times Asia Pacific News.