The United States and its allies in the Group of Seven announced – today, Friday – new sanctions to limit Russia’s ability to continue its war in Ukraine, with the start of the group summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
The heads of seven of the world’s richest democracies are meeting to discuss tightening the screws on the Russian economy and discuss ways to counter China’s growing military and economic power.
Bloomberg news agency reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will personally go to Japan to participate in the G7 summit in Hiroshima.
Agence France-Presse quoted a senior US administration official as saying that Washington decided to impose new sanctions on Russia during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
The US official said the new sanctions aim to restrict Russia’s access to products necessary to enhance its combat capabilities on the battlefield.
He added that the sanctions will prevent about 70 entities from Russia and other countries from obtaining US exports by including them in the black trade list, in addition to about 300 new penalties against individuals, entities, ships and aircraft.
In the same context, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit a new package of sanctions on the mining sector in Russia to narrow Moscow’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine.
For his part, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, affirmed seeking to tighten sanctions against Russia to include the diamond export sector, in coordination between the European Union and the seven industrialized countries.
Michel also said that it is in the interest of the European Union to maintain stable and constructive cooperation with China, noting – on the sidelines of the summit – that the European Union will call on China to intensify pressure on Russia to stop its military aggression in Ukraine.
pressure on India
There will be an opportunity for the G7 leaders to present their case directly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country has close military ties with Russia and has so far refused to condemn Moscow’s war.
Modi is among the many leaders of major developing economies invited to attend the summit, as the Group of Seven tries to win over countries skeptical of his approach to Russia’s war on Ukraine and curb China’s influence.
The talks will officially open Friday afternoon after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took the group leaders on a visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Park to lay wreaths at the memorial for the victims of the 1948 World War II atomic bomb.
It was reported that Kishida, who hails from Hiroshima and who tried to put the issue of nuclear disarmament on the agenda, insisted that the leaders also visit the museum, which documents the suffering and destruction caused by the bomb.
Apart from the Ukraine file, China will dominate the 3-day talks. The focus will be on diversifying vital supply chains away from China and protecting sectors from “economic coercion”.
But European countries insist that this does not mean severing ties with China, one of the largest markets in the world.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in Hiroshima, “We want to organize global supply relations, trade and investment relations in such a way that the risks do not increase depending on specific countries.”
France stressed that “this G7 summit will not be a summit of confrontation,” but rather a summit of cooperation and research into the requirements to confront China.