Japan sanctions Russia, separatist Ukraine areas
Japans prime minister has announced sanctions targeting Russia and two separatist Ukrainian regions recognised as independent by Russian President Vladimir Putin, joining an international effort seeking to pressure Russia to return to diplomatic solutions.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that his government will ban new issuance and distribution of Russian government bonds in Japan in response to the actions Russia has been taking in Ukraine. He said Japan will also suspend visa issuance to the people linked to the two Ukrainian rebel regions and freeze their assets in Japan, and will ban trade with the two areas.
Kishida repeated his strong condemnation of Russia for violating Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as international law. He added: We strongly urge Russia to return to diplomatic process in resolving the development. ___ United Nations: The United Nations chief says the world is facing the biggest global peace and security crisis in recent years and is calling Russias declaration of the so-called `independence of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine a violation of its territorial integrity and accusing Moscow of the perversion of the concept of peacekeeping. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Tuesday he is proud of the achievements of the UNs far-flung peacekeepers, but when troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, as Russian forces have done, they are not impartial peacekeepers — they are not peacekeepers at all as Moscow has called them.
Guterres said Russias unilateral actions also conflict with the U.N. Charter and are a death blow to the Minsk Agreements aimed at restoring peace to eastern Ukraine.
___ Ottawa: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is sending hundreds more troops to eastern Europe and imposing new sanctions on Russia in response to the deployment of forces into Ukraine. The prime minister says up to 460 additional Canadian Armed Forces members are being sent to Latvia and the surrounding region to bolster NATO in the face of Russian aggression. He also says Canada is taking a number of steps alongside its allies to isolate Russia financially.
___ Washington: Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has cancelled plans to meet his Russian counterpart in Geneva later this week as Russia presses ahead with recognition of separatist regions of Ukraine. Blinken told reporters on Tuesday that Russias actions indicated Moscow was not serious about a diplomatic path to resolving the crisis. As a result, he said he had called off his Thursday meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Echoing President Joe Biden, Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putins decision to recognize the independence of Ukraines Donbass region was a violation of international law. And, he said the placement of Russian troops there constituted the beginning of an invasion. Although he held out hope for a peaceful resolution through diplomacy, he said he did not believe a meeting with Lavrov would be productive at this time.
___ Kyiv: Ukraines president has called up some of the countrys military reservists as the threat of a Russian invasion grows, but says there is no need for a full military mobilisation. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation Tuesday night that he had signed a decree to that effect. Today there is no need for a full mobilization. We need to quickly add additional staff to the Ukrainian army and other military formations, Zelenskyy said.
He said the decree only applies to those assigned to the so-called operational reserve, which is typically activated during ongoing hostilities, and covers a special period of time, without clarifying what that means.
Ukrainians are a peaceful nation, we want silence, but if we keep silent today, we will disappear tomorrow, Zelenskyy said.
There are about 250,000 troops in Ukraines armed forces.
__ New York: Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street after Russia sent forces into Ukraines eastern regions, escalating tensions. The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1% to 4,304.76 on Tuesday, and is now more than 10% below its all-time high set in January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq also lost more than 1%. Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of rebel-held regions of Ukraine, raising fears of an imminent full-scale invasion. The U.S. and European Union responded with sanctions. Technology shares also weighed on the broader market. Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.93%.
– Washington: President Joe Biden says the U.S. will be sanctioning Russian oligarchs and their families, as well as Russian sovereign debt in retaliation for the countrys invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said those sanctions were just the first tranche of what the U.S. and its allies stand ready to put in place if Russia launches a larger invasion of Ukraine.
Hes setting up a rationale to take more territory by force, Biden said of recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden added that he was authorising the movement of some US troops in Europe to NATOs Baltic allies as a show of support and solidarity amid the Russian threat.
___ Berlin: Germanys Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has chaired a call of the G-7 nations in which ministers strongly condemned Russias recognition of the separatist-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and the decision to deploy Russian troops there.
Those involved included the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, along with the European Union.
The German foreign ministry said Tuesday night that the G-7 foreign ministers agreed to step up restrictive measures responding to Russias actions and reiterated their unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
___ Berlin: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany continues to rule out the delivery of arms to Ukraine despite Russian President Vladimir Putins order to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. Scholz told German public broadcaster ARD on Tuesday night that Germany had made a decision to not export weapons to crisis regions a long time ago, and we stick to that. Scholz also pointed out that Ukraine has a lot of weapons … and the point is that we have to protect Ukraine not by giving more weapons, but by standing together as an international community and saying that we will not simply accept such a breach of international law. He stressed that Germany has been the biggest financial supporter of Ukraine since 2014.
The chancellor added “we must insist that the peace order in Europe is again based on the fact that borders are not moved and that the state sovereignty of countries is not questioned. ___ Berlin: Protesters have flocked to the Russian embassy in Berlin to decry Russian President Vladimir Putins order to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. People were waving yellow-blue Ukrainian flags and chanting We stand united with Ukraine! as they assembled in front of the building near the German capitals landmark Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday evening.
Some held up banners saying Ukraine will resist, Say no to Putin or Implement sanctions immediately, while others wrapped themselves into huge Ukrainian flags.
Im here to protest against Russia invading our independent Ukrainian territory, said Victoria Baron, 27, who moved from Odesa in Ukraine to Berlin last summer to work for a data science company.
Its very important that we support our people even though were abroad, she said adding that she talked to her family back home almost every day and spends hours on social media following the latest developments.
___ Cairo: The interim government in chaos-stricken Libya says it rejects Russias decision to recognize two separatist regions in southeast Ukraine.
In a statement Tuesday, the Government of National Unity has urged Russia to de-escalated and resort to diplomacy to find a solution to the Ukraine crisis. It also called for Russia to withdraw Wagner mercenaries from Libya that fought along with forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter when he unsuccessfully attempted in 2019 to capture the capital of Tripoli..
___ Moscow: The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it has decided to evacuate Russian diplomatic personnel from Ukraine, pointing at threats.
The ministry said Tuesday that Russian diplomats in Ukraine have received multiple threats, adding that they will be evacuated in the nearest time. It did not elaborate.
The move follows Russias recognition of Ukraines rebel regions and the Russian parliaments vote to grant President Vladimir Putin a permission to use military force in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv is only a three hour drive from the border of Belarus, where Russia has stationed troops for earlier war games.
___ Brussels: French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says the European Unions 27 members have unanimously agreed on an initial set of sanctions targeting Russian officials involved in Ukraine. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday this first package of sanctions will hurt Russia and it will hurt a lot. He said the sanctions would affect members of Russias duma who voted against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine as well as another 27 people and entities” which are often companies, banks or agencies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said sanctions will directly target individuals and companies, as well as banks financing the Russian military apparatus and contributing to the destabilization of Ukraine. In addition, von der Leyen said the EU will limit the Russian governments ability to raise capital on the blocs financial markets. We will make it as difficult as possible for the Kremlin to pursue its aggressive actions, she said.
__ Berlin: Germanys top security official says authorities are preparing for possible cyberattacks in response to the crisis with Russia.
The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that security agencies have taken protective measures to avert such attacks and Germanys national cyber defense centre is monitoring developments.
Interior Minister Nancy Faser said on Twitter that authorities are prepared for all conceivable impacts of this conflict.” ___ Belvoir Castle: Defense ministers from the Baltic states urged world leaders to move swiftly and impose harsh sanctions on Russia, saying their countries know firsthand the dangers of trying to appease a bully.
The Baltic countries position on NATOs eastern flank was at the forefront of discussions Tuesday as defense ministers from the Joint Expeditionary Force met in central England. The U.K.-led force is a group of 10 nations designed to react more quickly in the event of threats like those now posed by Russia.
Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said in an interview with the Associated Press that world leaders must act swiftly to impose punishing sanctions or it will be too late to stand up for freedom and democracy. He said failure to stop the Russian presidents aggression” now would send the message that Moscow can play around with the Europeans” and the US.
___ London: Sanctions experts say Western measures against Russia will have to go much further to have a chance of deterring President Vladimir Putin from further military intervention in Ukraine.
Tyler Kustra, a University of Nottingham politics professor, said sanctions announced Tuesday by Britain on five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals were a paper cut. He said the UK could be doing a lot more. There are certainly far more oil oligarchs in London that could be sanctioned. They could have their assets frozen, they could be kicked out of the country. Thomas Mayne, a corruption expert and visiting fellow at the Chatham House think-tank, also said Britains status as a hub for no-questions-asked Russian money was a major problem.
For at least 20 years, weve been welcoming Russian money, he said. Weve been allowing people with very dubious sources of wealth to gain Tier 1 investor visas in the UK, to buy property, to list their companies on the London Stock Exchange, far more so than American stock exchanges. And weve created a situation where now were wondering whether that was such a good idea. Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for international recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, an end to Ukraines NATO membership bid and a halt to weapons shipments there.
Putin claimed Tuesday that Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula should be internationally recognized as a legitimate reflection of the local populations choice, likening it to a vote for Kosovo independence. The annexation has been widely condemned by Western powers as a breach of international law.
To end the current crisis, he also called for the renunciation of Ukraines NATO bid, saying it should assume a neutral status, and said that the West should stop sending weapons there.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)