TOKYO, April 8. /TASS/. The Japanese authorities will expand sanctions against Russian banks, in particular, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank will be included in the sanctions list, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a press conference in Tokyo.
"We have decided to freeze the assets of the Russian banks Sberbank and Alfa-Bank," he said.
"As for additional measures to freeze assets, about 400 more Russian citizens will be added to the list, including deputies and people related to the army, as well as about 20 organizations related to the military sphere," he said.
Earlier, Japan adopted several packages of restrictions against Russia due to the situation around Ukraine and the ongoing special military operation. More than 100 people fell under individual sanctions, including representatives of the country's leadership, officials and businessmen. In addition, Japan froze the assets of Otkritie Bank, Novikombank, Sovcombank, VTB Bank, Rossiya Bank, Promsvyazbank and VEB.RF.
The list of goods and technologies banned for export also covers more than 300 items, including semiconductors, equipment for maritime and aviation security, telecommunications equipment, communications equipment, military products, including weapons, software, oil refining equipment. Japan also banned supplies of luxury goods to Russia, including expensive cars worth more than 6 million yen (about $49,000).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 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 Ukraine, stressing that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Western countries responded to the actions of the Russian authorities by slapping sanctions against physical and legal entities.