MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament said Tuesday Moscow is disappointed by the recently introduced sanctions against Russia by Japan.
“My fellow lawmakers and I were disappointed by sanctions that Japan imposed on Russia. It is clear to any unbiased observer that anti-Russian moves are in fact coordinated from one center. And this center is separated from Russia and Japan by the ocean,” Sergei Naryshkin told a Russian-Japanese forum on Tuesday.
Naryshkin said sanctions are a tool of “uncovered economic and political blackmail.”
Last week, Japan’s cabinet of ministers approved a package of sanctions announced in late July. Tokyo announced a move to freeze the assets of two companies – Chernomornaftogaz and an oil terminal near the city of Feodosia in Crimea.
Japan also imposed sanctions on Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych, as well as on 39 high-profile Crimean officials as part of the third round of sanctions against Russia.
The Russian lawmaker stressed that sanctions break down the system of decades-long international economic relations. Negative consequences affect those who have been forced to join them, he added.
“The Russian-Japanese relations are not in their best situation and it’s not our fault,” Naryshkin said, adding that historic hardships that both countries suffered in the past prove that there is a need in efforts to prevent new armed conflicts.
Japan was the last G7 member to apply sanctions against Russia. In March, it ceased talks with Russia on the easing of visa requirements, and denied visas to Russian officials in late April, without making their names public.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has already said it considers the new sanctions unfriendly. Moscow pointed out that the new sanctions set Russia-Japan relations a few steps back, something that Tokyo should take on board.
