Leaders of the G7 countries announced new sanctions against Russia on Sunday and called for group unity, on the first day of a summit in Germany largely devoted to the war in Ukraine.
(Also read: Biden announces that the G7 will ban gold imports from Russia)
“Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban Russian gold, a major export source, depriving Russia of billions of dollars,” US President Joe Biden tweeted.
The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin to deny him the revenue he needs to fund his war against Ukraine.
Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 26, 2022
Pending a collective announcement at the end of the meeting on Tuesday, the US, UK, Canada and Japan went ahead and announced an embargo on newly mined gold in Russia.
“These measures will directly hit the Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
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Russia is a major gold producer whose exports accounted for about 15.5 billion dollars in 2021according to Downing Street.
The leaders of the major economic powers – the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom – meet for three days in the Bavarian castle of Elmau. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky will attend the summit online on Monday.
Risk of ‘fatigue’
Western countries have slapped Russia with unusually harsh economic sanctions, seemingly undaunting Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is constantly upping the ante in a war with no end in sight.
The Ukrainian government considers that the sanctions are not enough and asks to further punish Russia, which again bombed the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.
The American leader called for the unity of the G7 and NATO in the face of Moscow’s offensive.
Vladimir Putin expected “that, one way or another, NATO and the G7 would split up,” Biden said.
“But we haven’t and we won’t,” he added. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, however, warned of the risk of “fatigue” in Western countries.
Faced with the advance of Russian troops in the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, Johnson agreed with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, that “it was a critical moment for the evolution of the conflict and that it was possible to change the course of the war,” according to a British government spokesman.
Without negotiating a solution
These measures will hit the Russian oligarchs directly and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine.
However, Johnson warned the French leader that a negotiated solution “now” in Ukraine could prolong “world instability.”
The conflict and its consequences will be widely discussed at the summit that runs until Tuesday, but other challenges will also be addressed, such as the threat of recession and environmental crises caused by climate change.
And beyond the current situation of tensions with Russia, Western countries are looking with concern at China, which is emerging as a systemic rival.
The G7 wants to counteract the Asian giant and its “New Silk Roads” by investing massively in the infrastructure of the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The leaders will take stock of this project on Sunday.
In fact, to take care of alliances outside your area, the G7 invited the leaders of Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa to its summit. Argentina and Indonesia supported the votes against Russia at the UN, but the other guests abstained.
But everyone is worried about the threat of a hunger crisis caused by the blockade of Ukraine’s grain exports. Faced with this risk, India has already restricted its own grain exports.
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