Japan Announces Additional Sanctions on Russia
Japan announced new sanctions on Russia Wednesday for its involvement in the Ukraine conflict.
Under the new sanctions, Japan will ban some Russian banks from issuing securities in Japan. It will also increase the restrictions on arms exports to Russia, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, reports the Associated Press .
The move also comes in the backdrop of rising tensions between the two countries over a set of disputed islands. Russia calls the islands Southern Kuriles, while Japan calls them the Northern Territories. Russia had seized the islands from Japanese control at the end of World War II.
Japan protested to Russia on Wednesday over the visit of Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, Sergei Ivanov, to one of the disputed islands.
"A visit like this by a high-ranking person in the Russian government goes against Japan's stance regarding the Northern Territories," Suga said . "It hurts Japanese people's feelings and is extremely regrettable," he said, reports Reuters.
Japan had earlier imposed sanctions on Russia after its annexation of the Crimean peninsula and for supporting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. However, the earlier sanctions were lighter compared to the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EU.
This was because Japan does not want to spoil relations with Russia. It wants to forge stronger economic ties with Russia as it is interested in the natural gas reserves of the country, reports BBC. It also wants progress in the talks with Russia over the disputed islands.
The imposing of the additional sanctions on Russia was also to show solidarity with the G-7 countries. The foreign ministers of the G-7 counties will meet this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week.
