(Berlin) The G7 countries on Thursday announced new economic sanctions against Russia, including a ban on new investment in key sectors in response to “the continued escalation of the war” in Ukraine.
Posted at 1:58 p.m.
“We prohibit new investments in key industries of the Russian economy, including energy”, indicate the powers of the G7 in a press release, which also announces “additional sanctions against the Russian defense sector” and against “elites and their relatives” who support the war decided by Russian President Vladimir Putin against Ukraine.
Export bans on certain goods will be extended, sanctions against Russian banks and public companies extended, according to the text.
While an embargo on energy imports is not considered at this stage, the G7 countries want to “advance” their plans to reduce their dependence on Russian energy, which include among others “a gradual exit from coal Russian”.
The group of seven major powers had also pleaded on Thursday for a suspension of Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council, which the UN General Assembly adopted in the afternoon.
Of the 193 member countries of the General Assembly, 24 voted against this suspension – the second in the history of the UN after the ousting of Libya in 2011 -, initiated by the United States.
And 58 countries abstained, but the abstentions, a choice denounced by Kyiv, were not taken into account in the two-thirds majority required among the only votes for and against.
Among the countries that voted against is China, which denounced a “hasty approach”, the putting “oil on the fire” as well as a “dangerous precedent”.