It was announced on Friday by the Japanese Ministry of Finance that it will impose sanctions on and freeze the assets of 17 additional Russian persons, including billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, and that the assets would be frozen immediately. 61 Russians have now been sanctioned by the government because of the crisis in Ukraine, bringing the total number of sanctioned individuals to 61.
In addition to the billionaire, Japan sanctioned 11 members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, and five members of the family of banker Yury Kovalchuk, in accordance with the actions of other members of the Group of Seven member countries (G7).
At a news conference, Japanese government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno stated, “As for sanctions in the future, we’ll continue to monitor situations and, along with other G7 countries, react properly.”
Also revealed was the expansion of the Tokyo government’s export prohibition list, which would now include 31 more products such as communications equipment and semiconductors, in addition to 26 technology packages.
The Russian central bank and seven private banks, as well as a number of Belarusian companies, institutions, and persons, had already been sanctioned by Japan for their support of Russia’s military incursion in Ukraine.
Earlier on Monday, the US State Department added 11 senior officials from Russia’s military sector to its list of sanctioned individuals, including eight representatives from the Ministry of Defense and the head of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), Viktor Zolotov, to its list of sanctioned Russian individuals.
At the end of February, Russia launched an assault on neighbouring Ukraine, ending a seven-year stalemate that began with Kiev’s refusal to execute the Minsk accords and culminated with Russia recognising the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of the eastern Ukraine as independent states. The protocols, which were negotiated by the governments of Germany and France, were intended to normalise the position of the two areas inside the Ukrainian state.
Russia has now requested that Ukraine formally proclaim itself to be a neutral nation that would never join the NATO alliance, as previously stated. Kiev maintains that Russia’s attack was utterly unprovoked and that it has no plans to reclaim the two republics by force, despite reports to the contrary.
Several Western nations have responded to the onslaught by imposing previously unheard-of economic restrictions on Russian firms and persons.
Published By :- Shubham Agarwal
Edited By :- Kritika Kashyap
