TOKYO, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – Japan imposed sanctions on Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych, as well as on 39 high-profile Crimean officials and a Crimea-based Chernomorneftegaz oil and gas company on Tuesday, as part of the third round of sanctions against Russia.
The new list of Japan’s sanctions includes Ukraine’s fugitive ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia amid fears for his safety following the February coup in Ukraine, as well as 39 senior Crimean officials, such as Crimea’s acting Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, his economic adviser and former Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev, Crimean Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky who defected to Russia’s side after being sent to the peninsula by the coup-imposed authorities in Kiev, and Alexei Chaly, a former governor of the Crimean port city Sevastopol.
The blacklist also features the leaders of the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk republics in eastern Ukraine, as well as a petroleum products terminal in the Crimean city of Feodosia.
Japanese government released a list of new sanctions against Russia amid Ukrainian crisis on July 28. The measures envisage the freezing assets of individuals and entities “involved in the Crimea annexation and responsible for destabilizing the situation in Ukraine."
Tokyo will also implement new projects in Russia in accordance with the policies of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) adopted by the European Union and impose limitations on Crimean goods.
Japan was the last G7 member to apply sanctions against Russia: in March it stopped talks with Russia about the easing of visa requirements, and denied visas to Russian officials on April 23, without making their names public.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has already said it considers the new sanctions to be an unfriendly sign. Moscow pointed out that the new sanctions brought Russia-Japan relations a few steps back and that Tokyo should realize that.
