The Japanese government will expand Ukraine-related export and financial sanctions against Russia and Russian businessmen, in line with similar measures taken by Washington and Brussels last Friday. “We intend to ban the export of luxury goods to Russia and ban the import of certain Russian goods,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the press on Wednesday.…

Europe’s largest auto producers, BMW and Volkswagen, have halted manufacturing at some of their plants as the supply of critical low-cost parts from Ukraine is drying up, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Western sanctions are a blow to Russia, but they also hurt the entire global economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a government meeting on Wednesday. “As their weapons, [Western states] choose economic, financial, trade and other sanctions against Russia. They are now backfiring on the Europeans and Americans through rising prices for gasoline, energy,…