TOKYO, February 25. /TASS/. The government of Japan resolved to toughen its anti-Russian sanctions over Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said after a session of the country’s National Security Council on Friday.

"We are freezing visa issuance to Russian citizens, freeze assets of financial institutions, limit exports to organizations linked to the defense sector," the Japanese premier said.

At the same time, the premier gave no direct answer to the question of whether sanctions against Russia’s energy sector were possible in the future or about the possibility of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT. He said that his country will act depending on the situation, in close cooperation with the Group of Seven (G7) and the international community.

"We are ready to discuss the question of taking new measures if the situation around Ukraine deteriorates," he said.

In his words, the energy sector - including Japan’s participation in gas projects on Russia’s Sakhalin Island - was excluded from sanctions in coordination with US and other partners.

The head of the Japanese government vowed that Japan will take all possible measures to prevent oil price growth in coordination with US, other partners and the International Energy Agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

The Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.