TOKYO, May 26 (Portal) – Japan will impose additional sanctions on Russia after the Group of Seven (G7) summit the country hosted last week decided to extend measures to punish Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine exacerbated, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Friday.
Matsuno, Tokyo’s top government spokesman, also on Thursday condemned Russia’s move to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying it would further aggravate the situation surrounding the invasion of Ukraine.
“As the only country to fall victim to nuclear bombing during the war, Japan never accepts the nuclear threat posed by Russia, let alone its use,” Matsuno said at a regular news conference.
G7 leaders, including the United States, Britain, Germany and France, showed their determination to support Ukraine with additional military aid and sanctions against Russia at the annual summit in the world’s first nuclear-bombed city, Hiroshima, last week.
In an action coordinated with the G7, Japan will freeze the assets of 78 groups and 17 individuals, including army officers in Russia, and ban exports to 80 Russian facilities, including military-linked research laboratories, according to a Foreign Ministry statement on Friday.
Japan will also ban the provision of construction and engineering services to Russia, although the details of the measure will be announced at a later date, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Edited by Jacqueline Wong and Michael Perry
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