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This Sunday, the member states of the G7 reached an agreement to phase out imports of Russian oil and impose new sanctions on Russia. The United States also announced other measures against Russian personalities, as well as retaliation against national television networks.
Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom met in a virtual summit this Sunday, May 8, a symbolic day that marked the anniversary of the end of World War II. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also participated in the summit that was aimed at agreeing on new sanctions against Russia.
Zelensky reaffirmed that Ukraine depends on its international partners for sufficient military resources. In response, the G7 leaders reaffirmed their defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The seven countries reached an agreement that provides for leaving the Russian energy dependency in retaliation for the war in Ukraine. “We commit to gradually eliminate our dependence on Russian energy, including eliminating or prohibiting the import of Russian oil,” the G7 said in a joint statement distributed by the White House.
The leaders of the world’s richest countries said that the transition will be made “in a timely” and “orderly manner” to find alternatives to Russian energy. The group also pledged to prevent the provision of key services on which the Russian economy depends and will continue to crack down on Russian banks connected to the global financial system.
Negotiations in the European Union
These statements came after the countries of the European Union (EU) were unable to reach an agreement on Sunday to prevent imports of Russian oil. All 27 states have to agree to implement the measure, but not all are affected by the provision in the same way.
Hungary and Slovakia, being landlocked countries without ports, only have access to a Russian pipeline. The European proposal precisely provided for an exception for these countries to allow them to continue buying Russian oil at least until the end of 2023. However, other countries such as Bulgaria and the Czech Republic also demanded to be able to benefit from this type of mechanism. Negotiations will continue in the EU in the coming days.
US sanctions
This Sunday, the United States also announced sanctions against 27 directors of the Russian bank Gazprombank, the third largest bank in the country and the main channel used by EU states to buy Russian gas.
The United States will also sanction three major Russian television channels: Pervy Kanal, Rossiïa-1 and NTV. A retaliation that establishes that no American company will be able to finance them or sell them equipment.
At the same time, the country took action against the arms manufacturer Promtekhnologiya and against seven shipping companies.
With AFP and EFE
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