「権益損なってはならぬ」　サハリン２で木原官房副長官

　木原誠二官房副長官は１日の記者会見で、ロシア政府が日本企業も参加する石油・天然ガス開発事業「サハリン２」を事実上、接収することに関し「わが国の資源に関わる権益が損なわれることがあってはならない」と反発した。今後の具体的な対応については「日本企業の権益の扱いや日本への液化天然ガスの輸出入への影響は現在精査中だ」と述べるにとどめた。（2022/07/01-12:31）

Japan's interests related to natural resources must not be impaired, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said Friday in response to Russia's reported plan to effectively snatch the Sakhalin-2 oil and natural gas development project, currently joined by Japanese trading houses.
   Speaking in a press conference, Kihara also said the Japanese government is examining how the interests of Japanese companies will be handled and how the latest development will affect the shipments of liquefied natural gas to Japan.
   Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, reported in its online edition that Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering to transfer the operations of the Sakhalin-2 project off the Russian Far East island of Sakhalin to a new Russian company, a move viewed as a retaliatory measure against sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
   In early May, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country will ban in stages imports of Russian oil as part of the Asian nation's sanctions over Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Meanwhile, the prime minister said there was no change in Japan's policy to retain its interests the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 natural gas and oil projects, referring to their contributions to long-term, stable supply of low-priced energy to Japan.