Coal fired power plant in Chiba Prefecture, JapanTOKYO, Apr 7 Japanese government won't impose embargo on the supply of coal from Russia as part of the tightening of sanctions in light of the events in Ukraine, writes the Mainichi newspaper, citing informed sources. «The volume of imported coal from Russia to Japan is about 15% of the total. It became known that Japan would not impose an embargo on its import due to the risk of rising prices for this energy resource in the event that Russian goods are eliminated from the international market,» the publication notes. The European Commission previously proposed a fifth package of sanctions against Russia, which consists of six elements, among them – a ban on coal imports, restrictions against four banks, as well as bans in the transport sector. However, the day before, EU diplomats failed to agree on a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation and agree on a ban on the import of Russian coal. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
