The President of the United States, Joe Biden, the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Rishi Sunak, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the first Italian Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese President. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a working lunch at the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, on May 19, 2023, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory Credit Kyodo via REUTERS
G7 leaders announced new sanctions on Friday to make Russia pay for the war in Ukraine and reaffirmed their commitment to help Kyiv “as long as it takes.”
The Group of Seven revealed that position in a joint statement at the end of a closed-door meeting on Ukraine, which was held on the first day of the leaders’ summit in Hiroshima.
“We are imposing more sanctions and measures to increase the cost for Russia and for those who support its war effort,” the leaders said in their statement, in which they also renewed their commitment to support Ukraine at the financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic levels.
The G7 detailed some of its “coordinated sanctions” and other economic measures to cut off Moscow’s financing channels and its use of products and materials that can be used in the military industry, including restrictions on “new key sectors” such as the construction, transportation and business.
The new measures will also try to prevent Russia from circumventing existing sanctions, which includes working with third countries “through which G7-restricted goods, services and technologies can be supplied” to Moscow.
In general terms, the Group of Seven explained that its new actions seek to cut Moscow’s access to the international financial system and “limit its energy income and future extraction capacities,” according to the statement. The cargo ship Despina V, carrying Ukrainian grain, in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
They also highlighted their willingness to continue reducing their dependence on Russian energy and other raw materials, and to reduce the income that Russia obtains from the diamond trade, for which “it will cooperate with other key countries” in this sector with a view to applying “future restrictive measures”.
Despite the fact that the G7 wants to show unity, three of the group’s countries (the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom) have led this new wave of sanctions, while another three (Italy, Germany, France) will soon announce a new agreed package. within the European Union.
In line with this joint statement, Japan also plans to expand its list of sanctioned companies and individuals with actors from the construction and industrial manufacturing sectors.
Specifically, according to a senior US official told the press, the United States will include 70 entities from Russia and other countries on a Commerce Department “black list” so that they cannot receive US exports.
In addition, the US Executive will impose 300 new sanctions against individuals, entities, ships and planes that are helping Russia to evade the sanctions imposed by the West for the war in Ukraine or that contribute to financing the conflict, for example through the purchase of energy resources.
For its part, the United Kingdom announced that it will ban diamond exports from Russia and veto imports of copper, aluminum and nickel of Russian origin.
As reported by Downing Street – the office and official residence of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – in a statement, the new economic restrictions will affect 86 individuals and companies linked to the Russian industrial complex and other key sectors for the Russian economy, such as energy, metals and transport by ship. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak holds a bilateral meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, on May 18, 2023, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory Credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
Likewise, Canada plans to announce sanctions against 17 individuals and 18 Russian companies that provide the Kremlin with technology for military use, a Canadian official told the CBC, who announced that there will also be sanctions against 30 individuals for human rights violations.
In the six-page joint communiqué, the idea of achieving a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” occupies a prominent place: it appeared as the second of the eleven sections of the brief.
Specifically, the G7 considered that a “just peace” cannot be achieved without the “complete and unconditional withdrawal” of Russian troops, although on other occasions the group avoided specifically committing to Ukraine’s recovery of Russian-occupied territories. like the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
The G7 leaders, however, reaffirmed their commitment to the approaches to achieving peace made by the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky.
Zelensky is scheduled to travel to Japan to participate in person at the G7 summit, which opened in Hiroshima today and ends on Sunday.
