G-7 Announces Sanctions Against Russia; Zelenskyy expected to fly to Japan

Leaders of the Group of Seven are expected to introduce a set of measures to put pressure on Russia as its invasion of Ukraine continues for a second year.

G-7 leaders are in Hiroshima, Japan, for a time three day meeting to discuss international trade and security as the US and China vie for influence in a multipolar world with concerns about their decoupling and as the Ukraine war continues.

A senior US administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said early Friday morning that the administration plans to introduce measures to “economically isolate” Russia to weaken its ability to wage war.

“We will continue to expand export controls to make it even more difficult for Russia to maintain its war machine,” the senior official told reporters, stressing that the U.S. government’s “commitment to continuing to tighten the screws on Russia is as strong as it was last year .”

Discussions on the extent of sanctions against Russia will continue as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is reportedly expected to fly to Japan to attend the G-7 summit on Sunday, according to Economic times.

The US official added that all G-7 members are preparing to implement a new set of export controls. It will include adding 70 entities to the US trade blacklist and more than 300 new sanctions against individuals, entities, ships and aircraft.

“These will go after financial facilitators, as well as future energy and extraction capabilities of Russia and other actors that help support the war,” the official said, adding that the sanctions will span Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

That development comes as Britain separates imposed more sanctions on Russia according to legislation to be introduced later in the year.

“The UK is today announcing a ban on Russian diamonds, an industry worth $4 billion in exports by 2021, as well as imports of copper, aluminum and nickel of Russian origin,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said in a statement Friday.

“As today’s sanctions announcements demonstrate, the G7 remains united in the face of the threat posed by Russia and unwavering in our support for Ukraine,” Sunak said.

But the additional efforts to squeeze Russia’s economy are unlikely to have a significant impact, according to George Washington University research professor of international affairs, Robert Orttung.

“The new restrictive sanctions against Russia will have minimal impact on world trade. None of these measures are likely to get Russia to stop its war on Ukraine because Putin is fully committed to it and the sanctions do not harm Russia’s ability to operate on a day – in day, he says in an email.

“With China and India not participating in the sanctions, Russia still has plenty of trading partners,” he added.

Orttung noted that the measures to increase economic pressure on Russia would be symbolically important in combination with extensive military aid to Ukraine.

“The most useful outcome for world trade will be an end to the war that blocks Russia from further aggression,” he said.

“Anything the West can do to increase Ukrainian combat capabilities and weaken Russia brings us closer to this goal.”