Japan will in principle take concerted action with the Group of Seven nations in imposing economic sanctions on Russia if that nation invades Ukraine, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
"We reconfirmed our cooperation through a candid exchange of views [on the situation in Ukraine]," Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters online on Saturday. Hayashi was in Germany to attend the G7 foreign ministers meeting.
When Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine in 2014, relations between Tokyo and Moscow were good, with then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin frequently holding talks. The United States and the European Union imposed economic sanctions on Russia at the time, but Japan implemented only minor measures, including the suspension of negotiations on easing visa requirements, as it had high hopes for the resolution of the northern territories issue.
