On 11 November 2025, Russia’s Foreign Ministry added 17 Japanese journalists to its list of foreign nationals banned from entering Russia, according to an official publication on the ministry’s website and reports by Russian independent media. Several dozen journalists, mainly from English-speaking countries, were included in previous updates to the list.
In its newest round of additions, Russian authorities blacklisted Nikkei journalists Shogo Akagawa, Shogo Kodama, Takayuki Tanaka, Takashi Tsuji, Yukihiro Sakaguchi and Hiroyuki Akita, as well as Yohei Ishikawa and Tsuyoshi Nagasawa, Ko Sakai, all three members of the editorial board of Nikkei. The list also included Ko Koga, the head of the political news department and the head of the editorial board of newspaper Mainichi, Akiyoshi Komaki, a member of the editorial board of newspaper Asahi, Satoshi Masuo, a journalist from TV channel TBS, Yomiuri newspaper journalists Hiroshi Wesegi, Sho Funakoshi and Koya Ozieki, as well as Hirofumi Sugizaki, a journalist for the Kyodo news agency, and Yusuke Tino, a reporter for Fuji TV.
In its decision, Russia’s foreign ministry said that the decision was a “retaliatory measure (following) sanctions” imposed by Japan in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.