Japan imposed sanctions on the command of the Russian army, Skabeeva and dozens of companies

Japan is imposing a new package of sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press reports, citing a statement from the country’s foreign ministry.

The blacklists, which include asset freezes and visa bans, include 78 companies and 17 more individuals, including high-ranking military and officials from the occupied regions of Ukraine.

The personal sanctions were imposed in particular on the commander of the 58th Combined Army of the Southern Military District, Mikhail Zusko, the head of the missile and artillery forces of the Russian land forces, Mikhail Matveyevsky, the commander of the airborne forces, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinski, and the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Sergei Karakayev. They will be accompanied by Yan Novikov, a board member of the JSC VKO Almaz-Antey concern, and Olga Skabeeva, a propagandist.

An asset freeze is also being introduced for companies from the Russian aerospace and defense industry, in particular the Svyaz nuclear power plant and the Meteor power plant, which are already on the US and EU sanctions lists. Both enterprises are part of the state-owned holding company Rostec.

Another 80 companies were subject to Japanese export restrictions. From June 2, without a government license, the supply of technology to Kamaz, the Skolkovo Foundation, the State Flight Test Center named after VP Chkalov, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, the Institute of Applied Mathematics named after MV Keldysza are prohibited.

In total, Japan’s sanctions lists already include more than a thousand Russian citizens and more than 600 organizations, and export sanctions include a list of about 800 goods.

Export sanctions will be extended to goods that “help strengthen the industrial base” of the Russian economy, cabinet secretary general Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference on Friday.

He also said that as part of the new sanctions package, Japan will ban construction and engineering services from Russia.