Japan PM pushed back on US request to ban Russian energy imports, Nikkei reports

TOKYO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told U.S. President Donald Trump that banning Russian LNG imports would be difficult during their meeting in Tokyo, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday, citing Japanese government officials.

Russian LNG accounts for nearly 9% of Japan's total LNG imports, with Japanese companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi having stakes in the Sakhalin-2 project.

Before Trump's Asia trip, the U.S. urged buyers of Russian energy, including Japan, to cease imports, and put sanctions on Moscow's two biggest oil exporters, Rosneft and Lukoil, to push the Kremlin into talks to end the Ukraine war.