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- Bessent says US expects Japan to stop buying Russian energy</p>
<p>By Ismail Shakil and Katya GolubkovaOctober 15, 2025 at 10:36 PM</p>
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<p>U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks as he and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hold a press conference on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank annual meetings in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno</p>
<p>By Ismail Shakil and Katya Golubkova</p>
<p>(Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that he told Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato that the Trump administration expects Japan to stop importing Russian energy.</p>
<p>"Minister Kato and I also discussed important issues pertaining to the U.S.-Japan economic relationship and the Administration's expectation that Japan stop importing Russian energy," Bessent said on X, after the two met on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Bessent and Kato met on the sidelines of the annual International Monetary Fund meeting, and the G7 and G20 finance leaders' gatherings held this week in Washington.</p>
<p>"Japan will do what it can based on the basic principle of coordinating with G7 countries to achieve peace in Ukraine in a fair manner," Kato told reporters, when asked whether Japan was urged by Bessent to stop importing Russian energy.</p>
<p>Tokyo has agreed with other G7 countries to phase out Russian oil imports in response to Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.</p>
<p>However, Japan continues to buy Sakhalin Blend crude, a byproduct of liquefied natural gas production at the Sakhalin-2 project, which is vital to Japan's energy security as it accounts for about 9% of its LNG imports.</p>
<p>The Group of Seven (G7) nations - the U.S., Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Italy - agreed earlier this month to coordinate and intensify sanctions against Moscow over its war in Ukraine by targeting countries that buy Russian oil and thereby enable sanctions circumvention.</p>
<p>Last month, Japan lowered its price cap on Russian oil to $47.60 per barrel from $60, effectively in line with a new price cap set by the European Union in July as part of its 18th sanctions package against Moscow.</p>
<p>Japan bought 95,299 kilolitres, or 599,413 barrels, of crude from Russia between January and July, accounting for just 0.1% of its total imports, according to the finance ministry's trade data.</p>
<p>The U.S. is pushing its allies to buy more of its LNG, including committing to the yet-to-be-built Alaska LNG project. Over recent months, Japan has signed a number of new LNG purchase deals with U.S. producers but has stopped short of any hard deals with the $44-billion Alaska LNG project.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Ismail Shakil, additional reporting by Leika Kinara in Washington and Katya Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Costas Pitas and Sonali Paul)</p>
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