Japan will freeze the assets of three Belarusian banks from April 10, the Finance Ministry said.

The ministry announced that payments and capital transactions with three Minsk-based banks - Belagroprombank, Dabrabyt Bank and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus - would require government approvals, Reuters reported.

To tighten sanctions, Tokyo intends to ban the export of 57 more items to Russia, to be expanded from the current list of items that can be diverted for military use. The Japanese government added 31 items, including semiconductors, communications equipment, sensors, radar and encryption devices, to its latest list on Friday.

The new export restrictions will come into effect next Friday.