Sanctions, frozen Russian assets and 'elections'. G7 issues statement on Ukraine
G7 issues statement on Russia's war against Ukraine (photo: Getty Images)
The Group of Seven (G7) countries call on Russia to stop its aggression and withdraw its troops from Ukraine, and promise to impose new anti-Russian sanctions and continue to work on using Russian assets to help Ukraine.
In their statement, the G7 countries pledged to continue to support Ukraine's right to self-defense and to reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine's long-term security, including through the conclusion and implementation of security assurance agreements.
The G7 also called on Russia to "immediately cease its war of aggression" and withdraw its troops from internationally recognized territory of Ukraine in full and unconditionally. The G7 also promised not to recognize Russia's "elections."
"We will never recognise so-called “elections”, past and future, held by Russia in the territories of Ukraine, nor their results. Russia’s stated intention to hold votes for its Presidential elections in Ukrainian regions is an outrageous violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty," the statement reads.
The G7 countries also promise to impose new sanctions to weaken Russia's military machine and to prevent the circumvention of these sanctions, in particular, by third countries.
"We will continue to take action against third-country actors who materially support Russia’s war including by imposing additional measures on entities, where appropriate, in third countries. We call on financial institutions to refrain from supporting Russia’s war machine and we will take appropriate steps, consistent with our legal systems, to deter this behaviour," the statement said.
The G7 also promised to continue working to find ways to use the frozen assets of the Russian Federation to support Ukraine. At the same time, the G7 assured that these assets will remain frozen until Russia pays for all the damage it has done to Ukraine.
"We ask our ministers to continue their work and update ahead of the Apulia Summit on all possible avenues by which immobilized Russian sovereign assets could be made use of to support Ukraine, consistent with our respective legal systems and international law," the G7 countries said in their statement.
The G7 meeting was attended by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He appealed to the G7 leaders and called on them to provide Ukraine with all the weapons it needs and to do so in a timely manner.
