Japan has announced it is expanding sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, adding dozens of new sanctioned companies and other organizations, including imposing export bans.
Tokyo added 57 organizations in Russia and six others in third countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Syria and Uzbekistan, to its sanctions list, the trade ministry said in a statement.
With these additions, Japan has already imposed an export ban on 494 Russian organizations, 27 Belarusian structures and six more in other countries.
Russia has been hit by a wave of sanctions since it sent troops into Ukraine in February last year, but Kiev and its allies have stepped up calls for tougher action against Moscow.
Tokyo has already frozen the assets of Russian individuals and groups and banned the export of goods to organizations linked to the Russian military, as well as the export of construction and engineering services.
The new sanctions will take effect on December 22 for the newly added Russian entities and on December 27 for other entities.
At the G7 summit in Japan in May, the bloc's leaders agreed to "deprive Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its military machine."
The United States, Great Britain and the European Union imposed crushing sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, as well as committed military aid to Kiev in the amount of billions of dollars./BGNES
