Japanese PM Announces Additional Sanctions against Russia

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced additional sanctions against Russia, including banning the import of Russian gold.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported Monday that Kishida and other G7 leaders discussed diplomatic and security issues at their summit in Germany.

On the situation in Ukraine, Kishida said that the world stands at a crossroads in history and is being tested on whether it can maintain the international order on the basis of rules.

On North Korea's programs to develop nuclear and missile weapons, Kishida stressed the need to achieve North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of all weapons of mass destruction.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden said that the United States and other G7 leading countries will ban imports of gold from Russia as part of the latest series of sanctions over Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

A formal announcement was expected Tuesday as the leaders meet for their annual summit.

Biden tweeted: “The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin to deny him the revenue he needs to fund his war against Ukraine. Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia.”

In the same context, a US official said that the steps taken towards the Russian gold are significant, and G7 could make use of them to isolate Russia economically.

He added that gold represents essential exportation and the main source of income for Russia as it helps Russia to exist in the world economy which needed to be stopped.

It’s expected that the ban will be imposed on the recently extracted, according to Reuters.