Japan, Australia and New Zealand imposed new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions affected Russian President Vladimir Putin, a number of Russian officials and oligarchs, as well as Russian banks and government agencies that manage Russia's sovereign debt.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry announced the imposition of sanctions against 15 Russian individuals and nine organizations.
"The Cabinet has agreed to measures such as an asset freeze for officials of the Russian Federation," the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The sanctions are imposed on Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, eight deputies of the Defense Minister - Alexei Krivoruchko, Timur Ivanov, Yunus-Bek Evkurov, Dmitry Bulgakov, Yuri Sadovenko, Nikolai Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov, Gennady Zhidko, Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugaev, GRU Chief Igor Kostyukov, General Director of Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev, Senator Suleiman Kerimov and State Duma member Andrei Skoch.
The sanctions are also applied to nine Russian organizations, including Rosoboronexport, Russian Helicopters, United Aircraft Corporation and others.
The Australian government has imposed sanctions on another 11 Russian banks and government agencies that manage Russia's sovereign debt. The updated sanctions list includes the Russian National Welfare Fund (NWF) and the Russian Ministry of Finance.
Sberbank, Gazprombank, VEB, VTB, Rosselkhozbank, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Alfa Bank and Moscow Credit Bank are also subject to sanctions.
Among other things, Australia has expanded the list of individuals subject to financial sanctions and travel bans. The list now includes Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg.
The first package of New Zealand's sanctions against Russia came into force, restrictions are imposed on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The sanctions list also includes Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, head of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko, Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev and Director of Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin.
In addition, sanctions measures are applied to 19 organizations, including Promsvyazbank. The sanctions were imposed on JSC Scientific Production Corporation UralVagonZavod, 558 Aircraft Repair Plant and the company Integral, as well as JSC Concern VKO Almaz-Antey.
In addition, a travel ban came into force in respect of 364 political figures, military personnel and journalists.
Sanctions against Russia had previously been imposed by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland and the European Union. The restrictions affected a number of Russian banks, state-owned companies and government officials in response to Russia's military aggression.
