Japan to join U.S., EU and others in cutting Russian banks off from SWIFT system

Japan will join the United States, Britain, Europe and Canada in blocking certain Russian banks’ access to the SWIFT international payment system, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Sunday evening, as part of more sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

“Following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, it is no longer possible to continue relations with Russia as before,” Kishida told reporters. “Japan along with Group of Seven countries and the international community will take stricter sanctions.”

The SWIFT measures, which will also include restrictions on the Russian central bank’s international reserves, will be implemented in the coming days, several nations said in a joint statement released earlier Sunday that also vowed further action to come.

“The statement issued this morning by the U.S. and European countries stated that they will take measures to isolate Russia … including the removal of certain Russian banks from SWIFT,” Kishida said. “Western countries have requested to take part, and Japan will join the effort.”

In addition, Kishida also said Japan would slap sanctions on top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, and extend $100 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

In a statement released shortly after Kishida’s news conference, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel praised the decision.

“Today’s swift and decisive announcement to support strong financial sanctions on Russia, like the prior steps taken by Prime Minister Kishida, has established a global unified response to the largest land conflict in Europe since World War II,” Emanuel said. “We deeply appreciate the Prime Minister’s personal leadership.”

After the SWIFT measures were unveiled overnight, Japan was initially the only G7 country that had not signed on to the move.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi was set to speak with Group of Seven counterparts later Sunday, and the sanctions measures were expected to be discussed.

Hayashi, speaking on a TV program earlier Sunday, said Japan “must respond with an eye on the impact on financial markets,” as well as moves by Western countries, when asked about Japan’s stance on shutting out Russian banks from the SWIFT system.

Japanese companies have become increasingly concerned about a possible sanctions war with Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Kishida’s decision to join the SWIFT group came after Japan unveiled a set of tougher sanctions against Russia last week, including a freeze on assets held by three Russian banks and export controls on high-tech products such as semiconductors to military-linked groups.

The latest moves are likely to make the future of long-standing territorial issues between Tokyo and Moscow more uncertain.

The two countries have been engaged in a decadeslong dispute over four islands northeast of Hokkaido that Russia occupies and Japan claims — a dispute that has prevented them from signing a post-World War II peace treaty.

Hayashi and his U.S. counterpart on Saturday agreed that the impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has gone beyond Europe and that boosting their security alliance is a requisite for maintaining peace in Asia.

Hayashi called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday “aggression” and said he confirmed with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during phone talks that it has undermined “the very foundation of the international order that does not allow any unilateral change in the status quo by force.”

Hayashi told reporters that the ramifications of Russia’s action, in clear defiance of international law, will “not be limited to Europe” and that it could also affect the Indo-Pacific region, where China is increasingly assertive.

During their conversation, which lasted 25 minutes, Hayashi said the two agreed on the need to “strongly condemn” Russia and appropriately deal with Moscow “so as not to leave behind wrong lessons.”

According to a government source, until Friday night when Hayashi spoke by phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, Japan did not use the word “aggression” when referring to Russia’s invasion.

“The Japanese government has not defined aggression but decided to use it. Aggression has a stronger nuance than invasion,” a Foreign Ministry official said.

The switch to aggression, which was repeated by Hayashi when he met the press on Saturday, was decided upon after the United States and other countries started using the term, officials said.

They said the change is also meant as a warning against China, which has not ruled out the use of military force to reunify Taiwan with the mainland.

Blinken also thanked Hayashi for the imposition of the sanctions on Russia as well as Japan’s efforts to build a coalition to “amplify the joint impact” of Western nations’ response to the invasion, according to the U.S. State Department.

Japan’s new package, which also includes the suspension of visas for certain Russian individuals and entities, followed softer initial steps announced after Russia’s recognition of two pro-Moscow separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as independent. That action eventually paved the way for Russia to deploy troops in what were called “peacekeeping” operations.

Hayashi and Blinken also reaffirmed that Tokyo and Washington will strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the bilateral alliance and work closely with other countries, such as their G7 partners, in dealing with Russia and the crisis, the Japanese ministry said.

Later Saturday, Hayashi spoke with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau by phone. He asked for cooperation when Japanese nationals in Ukraine evacuate by land to Poland, according to the ministry.

Rau was quoted as saying in response that Poland, which shares a border with western Ukraine, stands ready to offer maximum support to Japan.

Japan has set up a temporary liaison office in Lviv in western Ukraine. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a press conference on Friday that the government has already chartered a plane for Japanese citizens to evacuate to another country from Poland.