Tokyo: On Friday, Japan announced new sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. These measures target both Russia's military and the country's engineering and construction industries.

After sending troops into Ukraine in February of last year, Russia was subjected to a wave of sanctions, but Kiev and its allies have become more vocal in calling for tougher measures to be taken against Moscow.

Tokyo's most recent embargo comes in the wake of the G7 summit it hosted in Hiroshima last week, where the leaders of the group decided to "starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment, and services that support its war machine."

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Among the new Japanese sanctions are "an asset freeze of Russian individuals and groups, a ban on the export of goods to Russia's military-related organisations, and a ban on the export of construction and engineering services to Russia," according to top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno.

According to the Japanese government, the asset freeze affects 17 people and 78 organisations, including high-ranking military officials, and the 80 companies subject to export restrictions include the Russian mobile phone provider MegaFon.

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Recently, the European Union, the United States, and Britain have all committed to providing more military assistance to Ukraine, including F-16 fighters, as well as announcing new sanctions against Moscow.

Additionally, Matsuno criticised the idea of Belarus receiving Russian tactical nuclear weapons. According to Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, Moscow has started transferring nuclear weapons to its territory. This, according to Matsuno, "further escalates the situation."

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Japan, the only nation to have experienced atomic bombings during hostilities, will never be able to accept Russia's threat or actual use of nuclear weapons