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Japan raises travel advisory for Belarus, Russia to 2nd-highest level

Mar 04, 2022 (Japan Today) - Japan on Thursday raised its travel advisory for Belarus to the second-highest level to warn against visiting there, citing the possible danger after imposing sanctions on the former Soviet republic for its role in Russia's military invasion of their neighbor Ukraine.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry also issued the third-highest Level 2 advisory on its four-point scale for most of Russia including Moscow to ask Japanese citizens to refrain from nonessential travel to the area.

For the Ukrainian border areas along Russia and Belarus, the ministry raised the advisory to the highest Level 4, which urges all Japanese nationals to evacuate and not to travel there, citing "the possibility of military conflicts."

"There is concern that Japanese will possibly face danger" in Belarus, following Japan's decision to join the United States and European nations in imposing sanctions on the country "due to its involvement in Russia's aggression against Ukraine," according to the ministry.

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