Japan’s Kishida Vows to Phase Out Russian Oil Imports, Add Sanctions

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence, in Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 14, 2021. Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo, File

Japan will take measures to phase out imports of Russian oil in tandem with the Group of Seven (G7) nations’ campaign against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday.

But the plan for Japan to keep its stakes in the Russian oil and natural gas projects remains unchanged, Kishida told reporters, according to Kyodo News.

“We will take steps to phase out in a manner that will minimize adverse effects on [Japanese] people’s lives and business activities, but our plan to maintain our interests [in the projects] remains unchanged,” he told reporters.

Following his virtual meeting with the G7 leaders on Sunday, Kishida said in a Twitter post that Japan “will take measures to embargo Russian oil in principle.”

His remarks follow the G7 leaders’ pledge to ban or phase out reliance on Russian oil “in ways that provide time for the world to secure alternative supplies.”

“We will take measures to prohibit or otherwise prevent the provision of key services on which Russia depends. This will reinforce Russia’s isolation across all sectors of its economy,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

Kishida also announced new sanctions against Russia at a press conference in London on May 5, including the freezing of the assets of 140 more individuals and an export ban on 70 additional military-related entities.

The country will also ban the export of cutting-edge goods, such as quantum computers, to Russia.

“We will continue to cooperate with the respective leaders in the G7 to implement strict sanctions against Russia and provide further support to Ukraine in various aspects in the future,” he said.

Russia is Japan’s fifth-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier. The Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in Russia was one of Japan’s main LNG supply sources, with an annual capacity of 9.6 million tons.

Kishida said on March 23 that Japan will not pull out from the project as it was “extremely important” to Japan’s energy security. Japan’s Mitsui and Mitsubishi hold 12.5 and 10.5 percent stakes in the Sakhalin-2 project respectively.

Meanwhile, Russia has barred 63 Japanese citizens from entering the country, including Kishida and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, in retaliation for Tokyo’s series of punitive measures against its invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters in Rome, Kishida said that Russia’s entry ban against Japanese officials was “absolutely unacceptable” because it was Russia who initiated the conflict in Ukraine and precipitated the current political situation.

Russia has also placed Japan on its “unfriendly nations” list and suspended peace treaty talks, which Japan has strongly condemned.