On the eve of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's arrival in Japan, the participants issued a joint statement outlining their positions on Ukraine, Russian aggression, and plans for the future:
The G7 countries demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine;
the G7 countries will provide economic assistance to Ukraine, budget support for 2023 and early 2024 has already been secured - and in general, the principle of providing assistance "as long as necessary" has been confirmed;
the G7 countries intend to keep Russia's assets frozen until Moscow compensates for the damage caused by the war in Ukraine;
Russia's use of the international financial system should be limited;
G7 will take measures to prevent "the use of branches of Russian banks in third countries" to circumvent sanctions;
The G7 will continue to reduce dependence on Russia in the field of nuclear energy;
The G7 will take measures against the Russian financial sector, but will preserve financial channels for "necessary transactions".
The words and trends are right, and it is all the more important to ensure their implementation.
A good example of this is the situation with the expected ban on imports of Russian diamonds. So far, the statement has called for it to be "monitored." The leaders pledged to work together to restrict the trade in and use of diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia" and to coordinate future "restrictive measures, including through traceability technologies.
As in the famous anecdote about the monster and the scarlet flower, they decided to go the long way around: monitoring and tracking the movement of Russian diamonds across borders could pave the way for a future import ban.
“As in the famous anecdote about the monster and the scarlet flower, they decided to go the long way around: monitoring and tracking the movement of Russian diamonds across borders could pave the way for a future import ban”
This is important not only for the immediate economic effect (last year, Russia sold USD 1.5 billion worth of diamonds to the EU, which was as much as it used to earn per day from oil and gas). It is even more important to close the loopholes used to circumvent sanctions on various groups of goods. Otherwise, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine reports that the Russians have managed to manufacture missiles, including Kinzhals. In small numbers, but each missile keeps the aggressors hopeful and thus prolongs the war.
While negotiations at the highest level between the world's most developed countries are underway, friends of Ukraine are applying their own restrictive measures to the aggressor or initiating joint ones.
“While negotiations at the highest level between the world's most developed countries are underway, friends of Ukraine are applying their own restrictive measures to the aggressor or initiating joint ones”
The new package of US sanctions, dedicated to the G7 summit, will include about 300 companies, ships, and aircraft. The US will also impose export restrictions on about 70 companies from Russia and third countries.
The new sanctions include additional sectors of the Russian economy key to its military-industrial complex and new bans to prevent Russia from using our services, a White House spokesman said at a briefing.
The US authorities will continue to expand export controls "to make it even harder for Russia to maintain its military machine." In particular, this includes restricting the supply of a number of goods that are "key to the battlefield."
The UK has expanded sanctions against Russia by adding 86 legal entities and individuals to the blacklist. Most critically, nine organizations affiliated with Rosatom have been restricted. As in the case of diamonds, if inertia or the lobby does not allow cutting off a tentacle immediately, it will first be blocked by technical means. The sanctions also include Tinkoff Bank and Severstal, among others. While the G7 is deciding, the UK government is imposing a ban on imports of diamonds, aluminum, nickel, and copper from Russia.
Canada will also impose sanctions on more than 70 individuals and companies.
Australia has also imposed new sanctions: they include Rosneft, Severstal, the gold mining company Polyus, machine tool exporters, and subsidiaries of Rosatom.
Poland's Europolgaz has filed a lawsuit against Gazprom for USD 1.4 billion in damages for not using the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. Since last year, a number of European countries and companies have already filed similar lawsuits, and Gazprom should think about where to get the funds for numerous multibillion-dollar payments. And at the same time, they still have to make payments to Ukraine.
About the author. Rostyslav Pavlenko is a Ukrainian politician, political scientist, political strategist, and lecturer. Member of the Ukrainian Parliament of the IX convocation.
The editorial staff do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.