MINSK, April 10. /TASS/. Japan’s sanctions against three Belarusian banks due to the situation in Ukraine are effective since Sunday.

Measures comprising the asset freeze and the ban on transactions apply against Belagroprombank, Bank Dabrabyt and the Development Bank, the Foreign Ministry of Japan said in March.

Similar steps were earlier agreed by the EU member-states and the mentioned three Belarusian banks were disconnected from SWIFT since March 20.

The Development Bank said earlier that it "took measures to use alternative systems of financial information transfer to support proper performance of liabilities of the Development Bank when making settlements with legal entities in all currencies.

Measures were taken in advance to ensure smooth operation, Belagroprombank noted. "The bank completed in advance all the required work to ensure continuous operations in terms of payments, performance of transactions on payment cards and other services for retail and corporate clients," the financial institution said.

Bank Dabrabyt made no comment on its disconnection from SWIFT.