As a loyal ally of the United States, Japan has always been consistent with the United States in foreign policy. In particular, in the Russia-Ukraine crisis, as soon as the United States made its position clear, Japan immediately joined the ranks of sanctions against Russia. Not only that, but Japan will impose additional sanctions on its own basis to demonstrate to the United States and its Western allies its determination to work closely together and expect recognition from the West.
However, Russia has also countered Japan with sanctions, such as banning Japanese fishermen from fishing in the waters of the South Kuril Islands, breaking off cooperation with Japan, and imposing sanctions on Japanese politicians and businesses.
In the context of the recent escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the strengthening of sanctions against Russia by the United States and its Western allies, Japan** announced a series of new sanctions on the 15th, mainly focusing on the "three axes".
First of all, Japan imposed additional sanctions on the Russian economy, freezing the assets of 35 individuals and 44 organizations related to the Russian military, involving military, political and ** fields. The move suggests that Japan could join Western aid with these assets as part of its support for Ukraine.
Second, Japan has expanded its "isolation" from Russia by announcing a ban on the export of goods to Russia and organizations related to the Russian military. The export ban is not only against Russian companies, but also includes two UAE entities, one Syrian entity and two Uzbek entities. This shows that while Japan is increasing its sanctions against Russia, it is also expanding the scope of sanctions in order to achieve the goal of "isolating Russia."
Finally, Japan chose the third step of "following up" Western sanctions, announcing that it would ban the import of Russian diamonds from January 1, 2024, with a particular emphasis on "diamonds for non-industrial use". This decision is different from the G7 sanctions, and Japan is likely to continue to import "industrial diamonds" based on industrial needs, rather than severing ties with Russia entirely.
However, despite Japan's hectic lead in Western countries imposing high-pressure sanctions, complete decoupling from Russia remains difficult.
It is worth noting that at a time when Japan continues to tighten sanctions against Russia, Putin made a forceful statement at the annual press conference, pointing out that despite Japan's participation in Western sanctions, it has not completely abandoned its energy dependence on Russia, especially since in the past ten months, Japan has still imported a large amount of Russian energy, including gas, coal and oil.
It can be seen that Japan, as an energy-poor country, still urgently needs Russian energy, especially natural gas and coal, which makes it quite difficult to completely cut ties with Russia.
However, while Japan imposes sanctions on Russia, Putin's remarks also point to Japan's weakness. If Russia retaliates by reducing or stopping gas exports to Japan, Japan will face an even more dire situation, which also reminds Japan to be cautious in its future decisions.