(Berlin) The G7 countries announced on Sunday evening that they were ready to adopt new sanctions against Russia, after those already announced this week, if it “does not put an end to its war of aggression against Ukraine”.
Posted at 2:57 p.m.
During a videoconference meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Italy and Great Britain, the forum of industrialized countries urged Moscow “to put an immediate end to attacks against Ukraine, its civilian population and its civilian infrastructure, and to withdraw its troops without delay” from the country, according to a press release issued by the German presidency of the G7.
The seven countries also warned that they would not recognize any “change of status” in Ukraine by force, in other words new territories which could be annexed.
Russia already annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and it has just recognized the independence of two self-proclaimed republics held by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of Ukraine’s Donbass region.
On Saturday, Western countries have already strongly tightened their financial sanctions against Moscow, excluding several Russian banks from the Swift international interbank platform, an essential cog in global finance, which should greatly complicate Russian trade.
They also took steps to prevent the Russian central bank from supporting the national currency, the rouble, by limiting its access to international capital markets.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attended Sunday’s meeting of his G7 counterparts, the statement said.
On this occasion, the seven G7 States also consulted on the humanitarian aid to be provided to Ukraine, which the various countries are announcing one after the other.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in that country is scheduled for Monday.