Japan Imposes More Sanctions on Russia as Kishida Pledges to Accept Ukrainian Refugees

Japan's Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the party headquarters in Tokyo, on Nov. 1, 2021. Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool Photo via AP

Japan’s government on Thursday imposed sanctions on four additional major Russian banks and froze the assets of Russian oligarchs in a bid to ramp up pressure on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

The Finance Ministry said that the assets of VTB Bank, Sovcombank, Novikombank, and Otkritie bank will be blocked starting from April 2 as a result of the sanctions. Japan has previously sanctioned three Russian banks, namely VEB, Promsvyazbank, and Bank Rossiya.