The summit between the leaders of the seven strongest economies in the world began this Friday, May 19, in Hiroshima, Japan. Within the framework of the meeting, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the US government separately announced new sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine. The announcements come as the G7 as a whole weighs new measures that are expected to target Moscow’s exports. Denuclearization and security in the Indo-Pacific are also central to the agenda.
London and Washington are the first to confirm a new round of sanctions against Moscow, within the framework of the G7 summit.
From Hiroshima, Japan, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that his government bans “all imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminum and nickel.”
Specifically, the ban on Russian diamonds could be largely symbolic, unless it is carried out in conjunction with other countries, as the UK has previously imposed punitive 35% tariffs on the invading nation’s diamonds and metals.
But Russia’s multibillion-dollar diamond industry is expected to be addressed by the seven powers during the three-day meeting, said European Council President Charles Michel.
This Russian item is valued at between 4,000 and 5,000 million dollars a year, making it a fundamental source of income for the Kremlin through taxes on the sector.
Ensuring Ukraine wins is the most important thing we can do for global peace and security.
We are banning all imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminum and nickel.
Sanctions are having a clear impact in degrading Putin’s war effort.
The G7 stands united with 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/rrHblLoF5K
—Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) May 19, 2023
The British government detailed that its economic measures will target 86 more people and companies that, according to the Sunak Administration, are “connected with Russia’s energy, metals, defense, transport and finance sectors”, as well as with the “military complex -industrial” of President Vladimir Putin.
It is “a new wave of sanctions targeting companies and individuals linked to Russia’s ability to finance and wage war,” the British government added in a statement.
US targets 70 entities in Russia and other countries
A senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and was quoted by the AP agency, said that Washington is applying a new package of sanctions to attack the Kremlin’s sources of income.
“All members of the G7 are preparing to implement new sanctions and export controls (…) But the United States will launch a substantial package of its own,” he said.
Washington’s measures include cutting US exports to some 70 Russian and other companies involved in Russian defense production and announcing 300 sanctions against individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft.
The official added that the other G7 nations-France, Canada, Japan, Italy and Germany-they would take similar steps to further isolate Russia and undermine its ability to wage war in the Ukraine. Details would emerge in the course of the summit.
“These will go toward financial enablers, as well as future energy and extractive capabilities of Russia and other actors helping support the war,” he said.
So far, the US has frozen Russian Central Bank funds, restricted banks’ access to the SWIFT system, key to global financial transactions, and sanctioned thousands of Russian companies, government officials, billionaires close to Putin and their families.
But Putin is still paying for the invasion against his neighboring country, the biggest conflict on European soil since World War II, due to the efforts of the West to try to stifle his forms of financing.
In recent months, US Treasury Department officials have traveled throughout Europe and Central Asia to pressure countries that still do business with the Kremlin to cut their economic ties.
This is one of the issues that most encompasses the attention of the summit in Hiroshima. In a joint statement at the start of the meeting, the G7 nations said they are working to impose “more sanctions and measures to increase costs for Russia and those who support its war effort (…) We are also building on the success of our efforts to ensure that Russia can no longer turn the availability of energy into a weapon against us and against the world,” they stressed.
Among the measures taken last year by the group of the world’s seven largest economies is the collective imposition of a price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian oil and diesel.
In addition, the leaders assured that they are “renewing” their commitment to “provide the financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support that Ukraine requires for as long as it is necessary.”
Japan promotes talks around denuclearization
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats against Ukraine, coupled with North Korea’s months-long barrage of missile tests and China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal resonate with Japan’s push to make nuclear disarmament a major part of this meeting in Hiroshima.
In fact, world leaders visited this Friday the Peace Memorial Park in that city dedicated to the thousands of people who died in the first detonation of an atomic bomb in wartime, on August 6, 1945, when a US B-29 aircraft dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. An estimated 140,000 people died in the attack.
The Japan-US alliance is the “very foundation of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region,” Kishida told Biden on the eve of the summit.
Japan, facing threats from China, Russia and North Korea, has been expanding its military but is also dependent on 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan and Washington’s military might.
It is still uncertain if this meeting will result in commitments regarding nuclear disarmament promoted by Tokyo, but in recent weeks the matter has increased the fury of Pyongyang, which after constant atomic tests, branded the request for nuclear disarmament by “interference” of the Group of Seven.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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