Japan's sanctions against Russia/AzerNews
Japan has imposed a package of sanctions on Russia because of the war against Ukraine. On April 19, the new sanctions restrictions came into effect.
The Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday approved additional sanctions against Russia, freezing the assets of 398 Russian individuals, including the daughters of President Vladimir Putin and the wife of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov .
Since Putin's daughters Ekaterina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova have been added to the sanctions list, the total number of Russian individuals, including military personnel and legislators, against whom the Japanese authorities have imposed sanctions, has reached 499 people.
The Cabinet of Ministers also approved the ban to import 38 goods, including vodka and other spirits, electrical equipment and lumber from April 19. The latest annual import of these goods is 16 billion yen (over $125 million), which is about 1.1% of total imports from Russia.
The new sanctions also include freezing the assets of 28 more Russian organizations, such as those associated with the military business, and two more creditors, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank. Bank sanctions will come into effect on May 12.
The Japanese government will also ban Japanese individuals and companies from making any new investments in Russia.
Coal dependency
Japan is gradually phasing out imports of Russian coal to reduce its dependence on Russia. Russian coal accounts for 13% of Japan's total electricity generation. With most of Japan's nuclear power plants shut down after the Fukushima #1 disaster in 2011, coal-fired thermal power is one of the main sources of electricity. Australia is likely to be one of the alternative sources of coal to replace Japan's Russian imports, which rely almost entirely on foreign coal.
Energy has been one of the key areas of cooperation between Japan and Russia as Tokyo tried to improve ties with Moscow by resolving a territorial dispute. In addition to coal, Japan imports liquefied natural gas from Russia.
