Japan’s Kishida says phasing out Russian oil to take time

Japan’s Kishida says phasing out Russian oil to take time

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it would take time to phase out imports of Russian oil, hours after he joined other Group of Seven leaders to impose a ban on crude over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kishida also told reporters in Tokyo on Monday there was no change to the plan for Japan to retain its interests in the Sakhalin 1 and 2 Russian oil and natural gas projects.

In a call with the other G-7 leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine overnight, he said his government had decided to ban imports of Russian oil “in principle,” according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.