Japan imposes sanctions on Russia and other foreign entities over war in Ukraine News
Kakidai, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Japan imposes sanctions on Russia and other foreign entities over war in Ukraine

The Japanese government introduced on Friday a new set of sanctions against Russia and other foreign entities in response to the ongoing situation in Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these sanctions, which fall under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, aim to strengthen international efforts to achieve peace and end the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The announced measures will freeze the assets of 11 individuals and 29 entities from the Russian Federation, as well as three Russian banks and one Georgian bank, which will become subject to a permission system for conducting payments and capital transactions. The list of sanctioned Russian individuals includes several corporate directors, such as Vladimir Artyakov, First Deputy General Director of Rostec State Corporation, Sergei Petrov, CEO and owner of PSV Technologies LLC, Pavel Marinychev, CEO of the diamond mining company Alrosa, and Ruslan Bulatov, General Director of LLC Testkomplekt.

Additionally, the Japanese government decided to freeze the assets of a North Korean national named Rim Yong Hyok. The latter was the Deputy Representative for the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID) in Syria, a company the United Nations had previously sanctioned.

The sanctioned entities include Russian-based companies such as Marine Trans Shipping, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, the Joint Stock Company Research Institute Polyus of M.F. Stelmakh, the All Russia Research Institute of Radio Engineering, the Joint Stock Company Military-Industrial Corporation NPO Mashinostroyenia, as well as the banks CMRBank, Russian Financial Corporation Bank, and Timer Bank. The asset freeze for these institutions will take effect on February 9, 2025.

Furthermore, the Japanese government imposed an export ban on items that could “contribute to the enhancement of Russian industrial capacities” for 22 Russian companies. This sanction also applies to foreign-based companies, including 18 from China, one from Kazakhstan, two from Kyrgyzstan, one from Thailand, eight from Turkey, and one from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

These restrictive measures against Russia are the latest in a series of sanctions previously decided by Japan, known as “measures based on the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act regarding the situation in Ukraine.” Earlier measures included asset freezes, a ban on diamond and Russian petroleum imports, and prohibitions on the export of items used in the military industry. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022, Russia has faced various sanctions from several countries and organizations, including the United Kingdom, the US, and the European Union (EU).

These sanctions have expanded to cover Russia’s allies and any country that engages in economic, industrial, or military transactions with the Russian Federation. Relatedly, the EU announced in June 2024 a sanctions package prohibiting the re-export of Russian liquefied natural gas imports to other countries in an attempt to weaken Russia’s economy. In addition, the European Commission announced on Friday the disbursement of €3 billion tranche of the Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) loan to Ukraine, which will be repaid with proceeds from immobilized Russian assets in the EU.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).