Japan freezes assets of 17 more Russian politicians, tycoons and families

The list of sanction targets include 11 members of the Russian parliamentary chamber of Duma

If the West genuinely believes in democracy, sanctions against elected representatives in other countries should be off the table as a matter of principle. The job of elected representatives is to carry out the wishes of their constituents, not to be coerced into implementing the will of a foreign power by threat of sanctions. When you start subverting democracy like this, don't be surprised when people in these countries lose faith in it.

The list of sanction targets include 11 members of the Russian parliamentary chamber of Duma, banker Yuri Kovalchuk and his relatives, as well as billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of Renova Group, according to a statement jointly issued by the foreign, finance and trade ministri

All 450 members of State Duma are subject to sanctions as prior to the invasion they unilaterally approved the independence of two "republic" breakaway regions in Donbass. That was the very critical event or mistake for Russia.

Hi Zichi

I follow your views closely and we are in sync I think.

Yes. Tohoku Deryoku has a mix of power, Hydro being the second largest source behind gas, with solar bringing up the rear,

The main plant at Shiogama used to be coal fired. but the four chimneys as a backdrop to the main tourist attraction at Matsushima saw it closed and converted to less obtrusive gas.

So Russian gas is still the main sourse of electricity in Miyagi.

I trust you on your nuclear posts and thank you for them.

You can trust me on this one.

gay

Superpowers don't think in the mentality of "legal" or not. They act according to their interests. When a country thinks another country is a threat to its security they won't wait until the threat becomes a reality.

Well, who do you suggest will stop Putin? Only Russians can stop him, unless you want a nuclear war. Is that what you want?

The best way to get to the oligarchs is to cancel their yacht insurance and their visas. Make them go home and deal with Putin.

Unfortunately, all these sanctions also mean that average Russians abroad (tourism and less than year) will be stuck because their bank accounts(bank cards) and credit cards will now all be declined.

bobcatfishToday  07:20 pm JST

I don't like to big note myself but whoever took over Citibank Japan froze my assets years ago

Then SMBC must have had a legally legitimate reason for it.

Be glad you didn't have money in Citibank Greece. Alpha Bank, the second largest bank in Russia bought their operations.

Superpowers don't think in the mentality of "legal" or not. They act according to their interests. When a country thinks another country is a threat to its security they won't wait until the threat becomes a reality.

I guess you can stop banging on about other ‘warmonger’ ‘illegal’ countries’ actions then.

Same rules, ok have it your way.

All sanctions that hurt people are illegal.

how about invasions of independent countries that kill people ( including innocent women & children - isn’t that illegal !?

Seizing wealth from oligarchs. Who profits from that move?

Not the oligarchs. duh.

I don't like to big note myself but whoever took over Citibank Japan froze my assets years ago

V.M.Today  07:08 pm JST

I haven't changed my mind. Still, sanctions are stupid and illegal.

Don't you think invading another country and killing many civilians is "illegal"?

Seizing wealth from oligarchs. Who profits from that move?

All sanctions that hurt people are illegal. If a president made a mistake, why should millions of people lose their hard earned money? 

You’ve been saying for days that all Russians are behind putin and that sanctions are meaningless.

Don’t whine about it now.

The Russians are not in the slightest bothered by Japanese sanctions.

In fact, it may have been more judicious for Japan to have remained neutral as Thailand has done.

Deeply worrying that governments can seize your stuff if they're unhappy with something done by a foreign government.

I think it’s nothing to worry about for the 99.9999% of Russians who aren’t connected to rich oligarchs funding putin.

Deeply worrying is seeing your country collapse because your ‘government’ deduced to seize another country.

I'm 100% behind the Japanese government for showing solidarity with the free-world and applying more sanctions on the Russian klepto-thieves, and making international banking extremely difficult for them.

Putin is causing such massive terrorism on the poor innocent men, women, children and babies in Ukraine - he and his acolytes are utterly depraved, this has got to be stopped immediately.

I can't help thinking that the top-story today should be the unbelievably courageous young Russian woman who stopped the RTV news-bulletin last night on live TV in Moscow with her placard demanding that the war be stopped, that the Russian people are being lied to, and not to believe the propaganda - this was an extremely brave and audacious plan which she carried out perfectly, and is hopefully the beginning of a new trend in which ordinary Russian people can be empowered to speak out, maybe the seed of the Revolution which everyone knows must happen there.

By the way, journalists and lawyers have been searching Moscow to speak to this woman and have been unable to locate her at any of the police-stations / detention-centres, so maybe all of our thoughts are with her for her safety.....

How can this be legal? Deeply worrying that governments can seize your stuff if they're unhappy with something done by a foreign government.

Happens all the time with illegally-obtained wealth.

One can make the same argument and say the only person that caused misery to the Ukrainians is their president.

Ukranians have a democratically elected President who didn’t start a war. So…Nope.

How can this be legal? Deeply worrying that governments can seize your stuff if they're unhappy with something done by a foreign government.

People become more patriotic because they feel injustice.

Sure. Ukranians feel that way. I guess you’ll have to stop calling them brothers.

All these sanctions are illegal and hurt only normal Russians. Imagine to that your president decided to invade another country, the next day you van't withdraw your money from the bank. Only people will get hurt, all these sanctions are stupid and pointless

Russian people are getting hurt now for one and one reason only, putin.

People power. The biggest danger to putin. Ever heard of a Russian revolution? It’s quite common.

I live in Miyagi.

7'0% of Sendai's electricity comes from the gas fired generator in Shiogama.

The gas comes from a pipeline down the west coast of Japan with a branch from Sakata in Yamagata to Sendai.

Restarting the Onagawa nuclear plant would reduce dependence on Russian gas (which is almost total here) and reduce CO2 emissions.

I support that move.

gary

They should just stick to trying to delay the imminent and inevitable collapse of their economy.

How’s Russia’s economy today? Maybe you should focus on that.

Calm down. Nobody asked for your help. Your "sanctions" are useless.

Japan is trying so hard to prove its existence lol

Nope. Japan is simply showing that along with almost every country in the world Russia needs slapping down.

Nobody needs to justify their existence. But if you want to go that route, ok then. Compare the yen to the ruble or Japan’s popularity today to Russian.

Also, ‘lol’ is inappropriate at this time.

Good to see Japan is firmly on the side of the free world and clearly objects to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Maybe one of these Oligarchs will eliminate Putin and put Russia back on on a better track.

illegal actions. japan is teasing Russia to spark a war to reset the economy

Japan is trying so hard to prove its existence lol

The world wants Russia's natural resources, but wants Japan's technical and intellectual expertise. Russia is showing the world on a daily basis what it offers under Putin and I'll take the poorest anime and the most withered cherry blossom to whatever Putin and his Russian fiefdom have to offer Are Russians seriously proud of the brutality it's showing in Ukraine and Syria and elsewhere.

Compare Russia's GDP per capita to Japan's; after all who LOLs last LOLs best