"As part of the retaliatory measures against the ongoing so-called sanctions actions of Tokyo against our country, linked to a special military operation, it was decided to permanently ban the entry of the following Japanese citizens into the Russian Federation," the ministry said in a statement.
In particular, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Toshihiro Kitamura, journalists of the Nikkei newspaper, professors of Hitotsubashi University, and other Japanese figures cannot visit Russia, the ministry added.