G7 agrees new sanctions

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G7 agrees new sanctions to ‘starve Russia’s war machine’

meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, said that they would move to further restrict Russia’s access to G7 economies.

“We will broaden our actions to ensure that exports of all items critical to Russia’s aggression… are restricted across all our jurisdictions,” they said in a statement.

“We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” added the bloc, which includes Britain, the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the European Union.

The grouping said they would step up efforts to prevent circumvention of their existing sanctions regime, “including targeting entities transporting material to the front”

Earlier Friday, the United States and other members announced their own new measures, with a senior US administration official saying another 70 entities from Russia and “other countries” would be placed on a US blacklist.

London, meanwhile, took aim at Russia’s $4-5 billion annual trade in diamonds, announcing a ban on the import of the gems, along with copper, aluminium and nickel.

The G7 statement also pledged to “restrict trade in and use of diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia”, including with the use of tracing technologies.

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Australia

Australia has imposed fresh sanctions against Russia and the country’s entities as well as an export ban on machinery and related parts.

The new financial sanctions target 21 entities including subsidiaries of the state-owned atomic energy corporation Rosatom, which took over a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.

Russia’s largest petroleum and gold companies Rosneft and Polyus along with steel company Severstal have been hit with the sanctions, as well as defence companies supporting the war and five of the nation’s banks.

Three individuals have been targeted including the head of the federal financial monitoring service and two Rosatom board members who double as aides and advisers for President Vladimir Putin.

An export ban has been placed on all machinery and related parts to Russia and areas under Russian control to prevent Australian goods from aiding its invasion of Ukraine.

The new wave of sanctions form part of a co-ordinated effort from G7 nations and their partners as world leaders gather in Japan for a three-day summit.

Strategically targeted
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the tranche targets sectors of economic and strategic importance to Russia.

“This includes the financial, energy, defence and metals sectors that aid and sustain Russia’s war in Ukraine,” she said.

“Russia cannot be allowed to infringe upon another country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The move came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in Hiroshima for the G7 summit, where he said Australia stands by Ukraine’s unwavering courage and again called on Russia to end the war.

“The struggle of the Ukrainian people is a struggle for the international rule of law,” he said.

“The people of Ukraine are making enormous sacrifices in order to preserve their nation-state, their democracy, and it’s important that the world stand with Ukraine,” he said.

“We will continue to liaise with them about what further support we can give.”

UNITED KINGDOM

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to announce a ban on Russian diamonds and imports of metals from Russia including copper, aluminium and nickel in support for Ukraine, his government said in a statement. Britain is also targeting an additional 86 people and companies from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military industrial complex, in addition those involved in energy, metals and shipping industries. They include those supporting the Kremlin to actively undermine the impact of existing sanctions, as Britain continues to work with G7 partners to tackle all forms of sanctions circumvention, the government said. On Monday, Britain promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy long-range attack drones when he visited the country as part of a European tour aimed at securing new weapons for a counteroffensive against Russia. Leaders of advanced democracies Japan, the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy start their Group of Seven (G7) summit on Friday in Hiroshima. The G7 countries are poised to use the summit to announce tightened sanctions on Russia and debate strategy on a more than year-long conflict that shows no sign of easing.

THE UNITED STATES

The latest U.S. sanctions package will include “extensively restricting categories of goods key to the battlefield” as well as preventing some 70 entities from Russia and third countries from receiving U.S. exports by adding them to the U.S. Commerce Department’s blacklist.

In addition, the United States will announce some 300 new sanctions against individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft targeting “financial facilitators”, Russia’s future energy extracting capabilities, and others across Europe, the Middle East and Asia helping to support the war.

U.S. sanctions authorities would also be expanded to more sectors of the Russian economy.

The U.S. official said Washington would take significant steps to align its actions closely with the EU and Britain to ensure that the G7 remained as coordinated as possible in response to “Russia’s brutal actions”.

h/t Dangerous Times

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