The Group of Seven (G7) on Friday unveiled new sanctions against Russia, including measures to starve Moscow of technology and industrial equipment – a move that may affect India’s efforts to reach a G20 consensus on the divisive issue of the invasion of Ukraine.
The leaders of the seven largest economies, meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, again condemned Moscow’s aggression and called on Russia to “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops” from Ukraine. They said Russia’s “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, undermining of arms control regimes and declared intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus” were dangerous and unacceptable.
The leaders of Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union (EU) said in a joint statement after their meeting that they were “imposing additional sanctions and measures to increase costs for Russia and those who support its war effort.”
A US official said on condition of anonymity that the US will blacklist 70 Russian and third countries involved in Russian defense production and impose sanctions on more than 300 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels. “These will go after the bypass. These will go to financial intermediaries, as well as the future energy and mining capabilities of Russia and other actors helping to support the war,” the official said.
The UK will ban all imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminum and nickel, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Twitter, while European Council President Charles Michel told reporters the 27-nation bloc was closing loopholes and wanted to limit trade in Russian diamonds.
Michel also said the G7 would try to convince the leaders of the host countries – which include Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and India – of the importance of enforcing the sanctions at the summit.
The G7 imposed a $60-a-barrel price ceiling on Russian oil last year, and the US has imposed sanctions on thousands of Russian firms, officials and individuals, frozen Russian central bank funds and cut off access to SWIFT, the main system for global financial transactions.
A joint G7 statement said the sanctions were working and Russia’s revenues had fallen. “Global oil and gas prices have fallen significantly, benefiting countries around the world,” it said. These measures will be expanded to limit the export of all items “critical to Russian aggression,” including industrial machinery, tools and other technology.
“We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” the joint statement said.
Ever since India assumed the presidency of the G20, it has been trying to build a consensus on the issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a joint communiqué issued at last year’s G20 summit in Indonesia, Russia and China backed away from the text used to refer to the Ukraine crisis. A meeting of G20 foreign and finance ministers hosted by India ended without consensus outcome documents due to differences in text referring to the Ukraine war.
As Japan pushed for nuclear disarmament at the G7 summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats also figured in the talks on Friday. G7 leaders visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, dedicated to the tens of thousands of people who died in the first atomic bomb explosion in World War II.
“With Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Putin is constantly threatening to use nuclear weapons. After experiencing the horrors of atomic bombs 77 years ago, Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida wants to spearhead international efforts toward our ultimate goal of realizing a world without nuclear weapons,” Japanese envoy Hiroshi Suzuki said in an interview before the summit.
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