Interesting development, and i wonder what Russia’s reactions be to the Japanese and French and the G7 and and and …
Cyber escalation would be a natural as that be what a large nuclear power on hair trigger can do, and better do, else no credibility at all on the nuclear warning
The scale of the conflict, and the rapidity of escalation has been surprising and not in a good way
Technically, proto world war 3.0 perhaps, starting with pushing and shoving certainly
I guess the peace dividend is put-a-fork-in-it done-done
bloomberg.com
Japan Will Freeze Russia Foreign-Exchange Reserves, Nikkei Says
February 28, 2022, 11:46 PM GMT+8
Bank Rossii, Russia's central bank.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergJapan will join other Group of Seven nations and freeze the Russian central bank’s foreign-exchange assets, the Nikkei newspaper reported -- preventing Vladimir Putin’s government from accessing tens of billions of dollars held in Japan.
Japan’s central bank will freeze the yen-denominated assets it holds for Russia to stop them being repatriated or sent on to other financial institutions, the Nikkei reported Monday without citing anyone. Earlier Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that restrictions would be imposed on the Bank of Russia, without giving any details.
The new measures come after an earlier decision by Tokyo to join other G-7 nations in banning certain Russian banks from the SWIFT payments messaging system and unveiling other sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Over the weekend, Western nations announced restrictive measures that will freeze roughly half of Russia’s reserves held in Group of Seven nations, according to the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell.
Read more: Japan Seeks to Show Unity With G-7 on New Russia Sanctions
The sanctions will be discussed at a meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors on March 1, the Nikkei said.
Almost 6% of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves, or an estimated $33 billion, were in yen-denominated assets as of June 2021, according to figures from the Bank of Russia. Japan’s decision leaves China as the only nation holding a substantial amount Russian reserves which hasn’t frozen them. About 13% of Russia’s reserves, or an estimated $77 billion, were in yuan assets at the end of June last year.
— With assistance by James Mayger
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