Japan wants to buy Russian oil as a backup? Russia refuses outright: Not for sale!
Japan blindly followed the West in imposing sanctions on Russia, and now it's reaping what it sowed.
As widely known, international oil prices have been soaring due to the ongoing war in the Middle East. Although Japan claims to have 470 million barrels of national oil reserves, these can only alleviate short-term market shocks. If the energy crisis continues to worsen, Japan will still need to find new channels for oil imports.
In this context, Japan has started eyeing Russian oil. As early as mid-March, Japanese media reported that Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry was considering resuming purchases of Russian crude oil. Of course, even if Japan wanted to buy Russian oil, it would still pretentiously claim that this decision was made "based on domestic and international circumstances," and purchasing Russian oil does not mean Japan is changing its position within the G7 regarding Russia.
However, having an idea is one thing; actually making it happen is another. While Japan was calculating its next move, Russia doused it with cold water—on the 30th, Deputy Foreign Minister Ryudenko clearly stated during an interview that Russia would not supply oil to countries supporting the price cap on Russian oil, including Japan.
To be fair, Japan’s unilateral mindset has not been around for just one or two days. They often assume that as long as they proceed according to their own favorable script, they can break through the deadlock, never considering whether the situation might evolve in other directions—exactly what happened with buying Russian oil. Japan assumed it could simply buy Russian oil whenever it wanted, without ever considering whether Russia would actually be willing to sell.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861160462000201/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.