“The Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects are very important projects for our country, which depends on the purchase of energy resources,” TASS quoted him as saying during a press conference.
Matsuno noted that the introduction of new anti-Russian sanctions will take place taking into account the priority of Japan's stable supplies of energy resources.
Earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that Tokyo had no plans to withdraw from the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project.
Japanese Economy Minister Koichi Hagiuda also stressed that Japan is currently unable to stop importing Russian oil and join the EU's plans to impose an embargo.