Japan will join Western countries in disconnecting a number of Russian banks from the SWIFT system, The Japan Times reported on Sunday, citing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

According to the publication, the prime minister said that Tokyo would also impose sanctions against Russian leaders and allocate emergency financial assistance to Ukraine.

The Japan Times recalls that Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is expected to speak with representatives of the G7 later on Sunday, and sanctions against Russia will be a likely topic of negotiations.

On the night of Saturday to Sunday, the United States, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Canada announced an agreement reached to disconnect certain Russian banks from the SWIFT system.

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) is a system for transmitting financial messages (payment orders, instructions for the transfer of the Central Bank, reference information) for performing transactions in the market for payments, securities, derivative financial instruments. The system unites more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries.