Japan asserts main goal of G20 meeting is to push reluctant countries to sanction Moscow

Japanese Finance Minister Shun’ichi Suzuki has announced that one of the major goals of the G20 ministerial meeting is to push the countries that have been avoiding sanctions against Russia to take concrete action. The upcoming G20 meeting will involve “cooperation” among countries that have refrained from adopting sanctions against Russia, news agency RIA Novosti reported on Sunday. “Now Japan, together with other countries, primarily with the G7, has imposed sanctions against Russia. But if only a part of the countries impose sanctions, then loopholes are possible,” said Suzuki. 

Russia could participate in G20 ministerial meeting

Suzuki told the Japanese parliament, “We [Japan] wants as many countries as possible to take part in the sanctions so that there are no loopholes. Among the countries participating in the G20, there are those who abstained from voting on UN resolutions or were against it.” Suzuki has also informed the parliamentary committee meeting that he did not rule out Russia’s participation in the G20 ministerial meeting by a virtual address.

“G20 chair country Indonesia has sent out invitations to all countries to participate. As for how each of the countries will act, there is such information that the Russian finance minister will participate online. I have heard such information. However, Indonesia is in charge of all the details,” Suzuki said, according to a CMIO International report. At the same time, he emphasised that Japan could not comment on the participation or non-participation of other countries. 

“As for the participation of Russia and China, each country registers with the Indonesian presidency. Therefore, the Japanese government cannot speak about the prospects for the participation of a particular country,” the minister stressed.

As Russia waged an all-out invasion inside Ukraine, Moscow and Tokyo indulged in a back and forth in heated exchanges thrawting the biltaeral ties over the longstanding territorial dispute since the WWII. Russia's Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev made sweeping claims, saying that Japan and Moscow "will never achieve consensus" on Kuril Islands. Russia suspended talks on WWII peace agreement singing over Tokyo’s stance on the war with Ukraine and Western coordinated sanctions. Medvedev labelled the suspension of dialogue with Japan as "historically justified, outdated and fair” on his Telegram channel.

Moscow unilaterally scrapped the peace treaty talks over the disputed Kuril islands and withdrew from joint economic projects, prompting Tokyo to summon the Russian ambassador.  "The Russian side, in the current conditions, does not intend to continue talks with Japan on the peace treaty," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Both Russia and Japan never signed the peace treaty for ending World War II hostilities over disputes related to Russian-held islands, north of Hokkaido, at the end of the war. “The latest situation has been all caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told Japanese reporters. He slammed Russia as “extremely unjustifiable and absolutely unacceptable".