Japanese Officials Visit Moscow to Protect Corporate Assets in Russia

Japanese officials visited Moscow on May 26-27 and met Russian government representatives along with producers of fertilizers, palladium, aluminum and other metals, as well as suppliers of liquefied natural gas and oil. The stated purpose of the visit was to discuss the protection of assets belonging to Japanese companies operating in Russia, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information is not public.

The meetings represent a rare high-level commercial contact between Japan and Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The talks underscored the importance Tokyo and Moscow place on keeping channels of communication open even as Russia’s economy remains under unprecedented Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. A model of a Gazprom LNG carrier was displayed at an exhibition in St. Petersburg, Russia, in October, according to Reuters photographs referenced in the reporting.