TOKYO, April 12. /TASS/. The Japanese government on Tuesday approved a ban on certain types of timber and machinery imports from Russia from April 19 as part of sanctions imposed due to the situation around Ukraine, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan Koichi Hagiuda announced at a press conference.
"The ban on imports will come into force on April 19, it covers certain types of wood, as well as machinery, and alcohol," he said.
According to the website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan, the ban for three months starting from April 19 will not apply to import contracts that were concluded before the entry into force of the relevant decree.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Japanese government approved additional sanctions against 398 people and 28 organizations from Russia in connection with the situation around Ukraine. In particular, deputies of the State Duma fell under sanctions.
The Japanese government has also approved a ban on new investments in Russia and will freeze assets of Sberbank and Alfa-Bank from May 12. Thus, new investments from Japan to Russian from May 12 can be made only with special permits.
On April 8, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Tokyo's decision to impose new sanctions against Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address 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 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, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.