TOKYO, January 27. /TASS/. The government of Japan added 36 individuals and three organizations from Russia to its list of personal sanctions, which entail asset freezes, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Blacklisted individuals and organizations are divided in two lists. The first one designates Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, Justice Minister Konstantin Chuichenko, Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Mizintsev, Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova, children’s rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova and individuals, who are said to be residents of businessman Suleiman Kerimov.
The other blacklist mentions individuals from Crimea, the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye. It blacklists Kherson Region Deputy Governor Vladimir Bespalov, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Yevgeny Solntsev, head of the Kakhovka military-civilian administration Pavel Filipchuk, deputy head of the region's military-civilian administration Andrey Trofimov and ten other individuals.
Japan has so far imposed several sets of anti-Russian sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, which target more than 900 individuals and over 50 entities. Tokyo has also frozen the assets of Otkritie Bank, Novikombank, Sovcombank, VTB, Rossiya Bank, Promsvyazbank, VEB.RF, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank as well as of about 40 Russian organizations and companies.
The list of goods and technologies prohibited for export includes some 500 items. Among them are semiconductors, communications equipment, software, oil refining equipment, cargo vehicles, and processing machines. Exports of luxury items to Russia, as well as Russian gold imports, were also banned. In addition, some chemicals, such as chlorine, methanol, acetone, ethylene, and sodium hypochlorite, were prohibited for export to Russia.
Sanctions pressure on trade is expected to remain in place in the near future. Japan has reiterated that, while holding the G7 presidency in 2023, it will focus on restrictions against Russia and on support for Ukraine. In response, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said that the Japanese government "has actually aligned itself with the US policy of isolating Russia.".