G7 agrees new sanctions on Russia
The G7 announced on May 19 2023 new sanctions on Russia, in a statement in which the group reaffirmed its commitment to stand together against what it described as Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.
The G7 said that it would further restrict Russia’s access to its economies.
“Building on previous measures taken to prevent Russia from accessing inputs in support of sectors key to its military industrial base, we will broaden our actions to ensure that exports of all items critical to Russia’s aggression including those used by Russia on the battlefield are restricted across all our jurisdictions, including exports of industrial machinery, tools, and other technology that Russia uses to rebuild its war machine.”
It said that it would further target those operating in these key sectors, such as manufacturing, construction, and transportation as well as business services.
“We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” the statement said.
The statement said that the G7 would continue to shield agricultural, medical, and humanitarian products from its restrictive measures and make every effort to avoid potential spillover impacts on third countries.
“We will further prevent the evasion and circumvention of our measures against Russia, including targeting entities transporting material to the front,” the statement said.
“We will continue to work through the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force and the Enforcement Coordination Mechanism to enhance the effectiveness of our restrictive measures.”
The G7 said that it was engaging with third countries through which restricted G7 goods, services, or technology may be provided to Russia to strengthen third-countries’ understandings of G7 measures.
“We note and encourage commitments made by these countries to ensure our measures are not circumvented and have the intended effect.”
The group reiterated its call on third parties to immediately cease providing material support to Russia’s aggression, or face severe costs.
“We will reinforce our coordination to prevent and respond to third parties supplying weapons to Russia and continue to take actions against third country actors who materially support Russia’s war.”
The G7 would work to further curtail Russia’s use of the international financial system to further its war in Ukraine,” the statement said.
“We are prepared to take further measures against those willfully supporting the financing of Russia’s war,” the statement said, adding that the group was taking steps to further reduce avenues for Russia to circumvent the G7’s financial measures including by preventing third-country branches of Russian banks from being used to avoid sanctions.
“We will continue to take necessary actions against Russia’s financial sector while coordinating to preserve financial channels for essential transactions,” the statement said.
“We will continue to reduce Russia’s revenue to finance its illegal aggression by taking appropriate steps to limit Russia’s energy revenue and future extractive capabilities, building on the measures we have taken so far, including export bans and the price cap for seaborne Russian- 5 origin crude oil and refined oil products. “
The G7 said that it had “dramatically reduced” its reliance on Russian energy and commodities.
“We are determined to continue on this path so that Russia is no longer able to weaponize energy against us. We will further reduce reliance on civil nuclear and related goods from Russia, including working to assist countries seeking to diversify their supplies.”
The group said that it would also continue efforts to reduce Russia’s revenue from metals.
“Further, we remain committed to upholding the price caps on Russian oil and petroleum products and we will enhance our efforts to counter evasion of these caps while avoiding spillover effects and maintaining global energy supply.
“In order to reduce the revenues that Russia extracts from the export of diamonds, we will continue to work closely together to restrict trade in and use of diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia and engage with key partners with the aim of ensuring effective implementation of future coordinated restrictive measures, including through tracing technologies,” the G7 said.
(Photo: https://www.g7japan-photo.go.jp/)
Please support The Sofia Globe’s independent journalism by becoming a subscriber to our page on Patreon:
