The leaders of the G7 announced this Friday new sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine and reaffirmed their commitment to help Kiev “for as long as it takes”after finishing the first day of the summit of leaders in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
The sanctions and economic measures are focused on cutting off Moscow’s financing channels and its use of products and materials that can be used in the military industry, including restrictions on “key new sectors” such as construction, transport and business. They will also try to prevent Russia from circumventing existing sanctions by outsourcing “G7-restricted goods, services and technologies” through other countries.
The Group of Seven stressed its willingness to continue reducing its dependence on Russian energy and raw materials, and to limit the income that Russia obtains from the diamond trade, for which “it will cooperate with other key countries” in this sector to apply ” future restrictive measures”.
The first sanctions
Despite the fact that the G7 wants to show unity, three of the group’s countries — the US, Canada and the United Kingdom — led this new wave of sanctions, while Italy, Germany and France will soon announce a new package agreed within the European Union. Japan plans to expand its list of sanctioned companies and individuals in the construction and industrial manufacturing sectors.
USA imposed 300 new sanctions against individuals, entities, ships and planes that are helping Russia evade Western-imposed sanctions for the war in Ukraine, or helping to finance the conflict. They also included individuals implicated in the illegal transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, such as Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova.
United Kingdom announced a ban on diamond exports from Russia and a ban on imports of copper, aluminum and nickel of Russian origin. Canada is scheduled to announce sanctions against 17 individuals and 18 Russian companies that provide the Kremlin with technology for military use, a Canadian official said, adding that there will be sanctions against 30 individuals for human rights violations.
The Russian answer
Faced with sanctions, Russia will ban another 500 Americans, including former President Barack Obama, from entering the country. “Washington should have understood long ago that not a single hostile attack against Russia will go without a harsh response,” said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The Russian blacklist includes senior officials, congressmen and senators elected in November 2022, heads of military industry companies that supply Ukraine with weapons, members of state security organs that persecute “dissidents” such as those participating in the assault. to Capitol Hill in January 2021, experts and analysts from centers involved in spreading fake news about Russia, and journalists and presenters like James Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, downplayed the impact of UK sanctions against the Russian diamond trade. “As the practice with other merchandise shows, if they stop buying them in one place, they start buying them in others. This does not create gaps,” he declared at his daily press conference. And he added: “the world market is very mobile and rich in alternative directions.”
darts against china
China was also at the focus of discussion at the Hiroshima summit. The G7 communiqué said that “China’s accelerating buildup of its nuclear arsenal without transparency or meaningful dialogue raises concern for global and regional stability.” They also urged China to participate substantively in relevant multilateral and bilateral fora, in line with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that entered into force in 1970.
The G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to “achieve a world free of nuclear weapons” and noted that the NPT “is the only way” to achieve it. The document refers to countries that would be acting against the world order –Russia and North Korea– due to the continued launch of missiles.
The Group of Seven includes nuclear powers such as the US, UK and France. In addition, the Americans have nuclear weapons deployed in Germany and Italy.
AI, another concern
Artificial intelligence was one of the topics discussed during the first day of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, which will last until Sunday.. Group leaders agreed on “the need” to establish regulated mechanisms to manage artificial intelligence and immersive technologies. And they promised to elaborate by the end of the year, proposals individually to later discuss them in common.
In the first session of the summit, the host — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida — called on his G7 colleagues “to work for the early establishment of an international framework” to regulate these technologies. The Hiroshima summit, Kishida said, seeks to “confirm the unity of the G7 and strengthen its roles in the face of an international community characterized by cooperation, not division and confrontation, and demonstrate active and concrete contributions towards this goal.”
The Peace Park
Hiroshima, the first city to be bombed with a nuclear weapon on August 6, 1945, is the venue for the 49th meeting of the Group of Seven, where it is intended to send a strong message for peace and against nuclear weapons.
In this sense, the leaders of the group also made a historic visit to the Museum and the Hiroshima Peace Park this Friday. After the visit to the museum, which according to local media would have lasted about 30 minutes and where the leaders signed the visitors’ book and met with a “hibakusha” –survivor–, the leaders presented some white flower arrangements in respect of the victims .
The 1945 bomb immediately killed 80,000 people, about 30 percent of the population. At the end of that year, the balance rose to 140,000 and in subsequent years, the victims due to the effects of radiation added more than double.
The press service of the President of Ukraine confirmed in the last few hours, through a statement, that Zelensky will participate in the upcoming summit meetings remotely.to deny the information released indicating that he would travel to Japan.
