The Japanese government has ordered punitive action against 15 individuals and 9 organizations, including defense officials and Rosoboron Export, a state-owned arms exporter. According to the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo, Japan has already imposed sanctions on 76 people, 7 banks and 12 other organizations. Among other things, Russian Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zharova and several arms manufacturers were on the sanctions list.
Japan also has interests in natural gas and oil projects on Sakhalin Island after the withdrawal of Shell and oil company ExxonMobil. The last time Japanese Prime Minister Kiseida Fumio spoke about the issue was on Wednesday, but she did not talk about the fate of energy projects on Sakhalin.
The Russian ambassador in Tokyo said Thursday that it would be very clear for Japan to keep “mutually beneficial” energy projects on Sakhalin. It is considered sensitive to Japan’s energy supply, according to Reuters.
Around the same time, the Canberra government announced that it would impose sanctions on Russia’s Ministry of Finance, 11 Russian banks and a government organization, making it impossible for most Russian financial institutions and all organizations dealing with Russian public debt to operate in Australia.
MTI
