Tokyo: The Japanese government is planning to expand the scope of its ban on automobile exports to Russia to include a wide range of used vehicles, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Japan in April last year prohibited shipments of vehicles costing 6 million yen or more to Russia as part of its ban on luxury goods exports to the country.

Expanding the ban to include used vehicles, which are in high demand in Russia, is part of efforts by Tokyo to beef up its sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The Japanese government is currently considering banning exports to Russia of gasoline and diesel cars with an engine displacement of over 1,900 cc, as well as all hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.

The measure means that vehicles that Japan will be able to export to Russia will be limited to some compact cars.

Automobiles have topped the list of items exported by Japan to Russia since 1997, according to Finance Ministry trade data.

In 2022, when Tokyo banned luxury vehicle exports to Russia, around 200,000 used vehicles were shipped to Russia from Japan, up drastically from the previous year’s 150,000, or 250.6 billion yen, around 40 pct of Japan’s overall exports to the country.

In a statement issued at a summit in the western Japan city of Hiroshima in May this year, leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies said “we will broaden our actions to ensure that exports of all items critical to Russia’s aggression…are restricted across all our jurisdictions.”

In May this year, the United States expanded the scope of its export ban to cover all passenger vehicles.

The European Union in June said that it will expand its ban on vehicle exports to Russia to include those with an engine displacement of over 1,900 cc.

“We’ll consider concrete measures based on sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe,” Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said at a press conference.

JIJI Press