Japan reveals hitch in freezing Russian reserves

The Bank of Japan cannot seize Russian foreign reserves as the country’s current laws do not allow it to do so, according to Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki.

In late February, Tokyo announced plans to join other Group of Seven nations in seizing the Russian central bank’s foreign-exchange assets to prevent Moscow from accessing tens of billions of dollars held in Japan.

Similar measures, previously introduced by the US and its Western allies, came as part of sanctions against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Russia had been deprived of nearly $300 billion out of a total $640 billion in foreign currency reserves due to the measures.

Last week, the US and its allies announced further sanctions blocking financial transactions involving the Russian central bank’s international reserves of gold.

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