Prime Minister: Japan strips Russia of most-favored nation status

TOKYO, Mar 16 (PRIME) – Japan will strip Russia of the most-favored nation status to increase pressure on Moscow over the situation in Ukraine together with the other members of the G7 leading global economies, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday.

“Together with the G7 countries, we will strengthen economic and political pressure on Russia. In order to do that, we will take the following five measures. First: we exclude Russia from the most-favored nation regime,” he said.

The second measure is a ban on exports of luxurious goods to Russia and imports of some goods from Russia. The list of goods will be prepared shortly, he said.

The third step includes joint international measures that would block Russia from receiving investment from the international financial organizations like the World Bank and the European Development Bank. The fourth measure is expansion of the blacklist to other people from the inner circle of President Vladimir Putin, the Russian oligarchs whose assets will be frozen, he said.

Tokyo also wants to ask cryptocurrency exchanges and financial organizations to block Russia’s access so that Moscow is unable to bypass sanctions, he said.

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