THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
March 7, 2022 at 17:58 JST
The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki district (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Foreign Ministry on March 7 raised its warning against travel to Russia to the second highest level and urged Japanese nationals to consider leaving the country before exit becomes impossible or overly expensive.
The ministry issued a Level 3 travel warning for all of Russia, except areas bordering Ukraine, citing decreasing prospects for flights from the country and other means of transportation.
The travel warning was raised to the highest Level 4 on March 3 for the border areas following Russia’s military invasion of its neighbor.
About 2,400 Japanese citizens reside in Russia as of March 6, the ministry said, based on figures supplied by the Japanese diplomatic missions in the country.
The ministry urged them to consider leaving Russia because “tensions of all sorts will likely happen” there in the coming weeks. Leading credit companies, for example, have suspended business operations in Russia.
The ministry noted that fares for flights from Russia shot up following travel restrictions imposed by Moscow, and tickets are becoming more difficult to obtain.
“Consider leaving on a commercial flight, keeping in mind that the ways of departing from Russia may become further restricted,” the ministry said.
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