TOKYO, FEBRUARY 25: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other Group of Seven leaders adopted a set of additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine at an online G-7 summit Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion.
The leaders renewed their commitment to “intensifying our diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine, to increasing the costs to Russia and those supporting its war effort,” and countering the negative impact on the rest of the world, especially the most vulnerable people, they said in a statement, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The G-7 countries also affirmed their coordinated action to “further counter Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal aggression” and pledged to prevent Russia from obtaining military equipment and technology. They also called on other countries to stop providing military support to Russia.
Kishida, as this year’s G-7 president, also announced Japan will impose additional sanctions on Russia, including freezing the assets of some 120 individuals and organizations and banning the export of drones and other materials that can be used for military purposes.
“In order to absolutely not allow one-sided changes to the status quo, we must firmly carry out support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia to regain peace and international order based on the rule of law,” Kishida told a news conference before hosting a teleconference with other G-7 leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“G-7 serves the core of the international commit- ment to do so,” he said.
At the summit, Kishida planned to discuss the latest developments in the Russian war on Ukraine and how to support Ukraine’s recovery and affirm G-7 solidarity for the war-torn country.
Kishida noted growing concern about China’s potential transfer of lethal weapons to Russia, and said that Japan will cooperate with G-7 and other countries to send a “clear message” to third countries to stop supplying weapons to Russia.
Kishida also expressed “strong concern” about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement Tuesday that he was sus- pending Moscow’s participation in an arms control treaty between Russia and the United States.
“Russia’s nuclear threat is unacceptable, and use of nuclear weapons should never happen,” Kishida, whose electoral constituency is Hiroshima, said at the news conference.
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