Russia says it has barred entry to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kisida and more than 60 others, including cabinet ministers, media membersm and intellectuals, for the government’s sanctions against Moscow over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said in a statement on May 4 that the ban is permanent.
The list of those barred from entering Russia include Foreign Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Finance Minister Shun’ichi Suzuki, Defense Minister Nobuo Kisi, and Hirokazu Matsuno, the general secretary of the cabinet.
Senior officials from the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, which publishes Japan’s leading newspaper, and the Nikkei Group are also on the list.
Japan has followed the United States, the European Union, and many of their allies in imposing several rounds of crippling sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.