Leaders of the Group of Seven have introduced a set of measures to add pressure on Russia as its invasion of Ukraine continues for a second year, CNBC reports.
G7 leaders are in Hiroshima, Japan, for a three-day meeting to discuss international trade and security as the U.S. and China battle for influence in a multipolar world amid concerns of their decoupling, and as the Ukraine war continues.
“We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” the group said in a statement released on Friday.
The newly announced sanctions build on previous measures and will be broadened 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,” the G7 said in its statement.
A senior U.S. administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, had previewed the measures early Friday morning, noting that the government plans to introduce steps to “economically isolate” Russia to weaken its ability to wage war.
“We will continue to expand export controls to make it even harder for Russia to sustain its war machine,” the senior official told reporters, emphasizing that the U.S. government’s “commitment to continue tightening the screws on Russia remains as strong as it was last year.”
The restrictions were announced as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to fly to Japan to attend the G7 summit.
The G7 added that it has “dramatically reduced” its reliance on Russia’s energy supplies and commodities.
“We are determined to continue on this path so that Russia is no longer able to weaponize energy against us,” it said in the statement. “We will further reduce reliance on civil nuclear and related goods from Russia, including working to assist countries seeking to diversify their supplies,” it said.
Those developments come as the United Kingdom separately imposed more sanctions on Russia under a legislation to be introduced later in the year.
“The U.K. is today announcing a ban on Russian diamonds, an industry worth $4 billion in exports in 2021, as well as imports of Russian-origin copper, aluminium and nickel,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said in a Friday release.
“As today’s sanctions announcements demonstrate, the G7 remains unified in the face of the threat from Russia and steadfast in our support for Ukraine,” Sunak said.
The G7 announced intentions to limit trade in diamonds of Russian origin.
“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 group said.