The Secretary-General of the Japanese government, Hirokazu Matsuno, said that the Japanese government has sent a protest to Russia over its inclusion of Japan in the list of countries and territories unfriendly to Russia.
“Our inclusion by Russia as an unfriendly country is unfortunate. We have protested through diplomatic channels,” said the Japanese Cabinet Secretary at a press conference.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree directing the government to draw up a list of countries that “take unfriendly steps” toward Russia.
The government, under the presidential decree, will have to draw up a list of countries that are taking action against Russian citizens and Russian entities.
According to the decree, Russian companies will be entitled to pay their debts to creditors of the countries on this list in Russian rubles.
This comes against the backdrop of a number of Western countries imposing economic sanctions on Russia after Moscow launched a military operation in Ukraine.
