G7 leaders take aim at Russia and its allies | DW News

G7 leaders take aim at Russia and its allies | DW News

the leaders of seven leading industrialized nations who are meeting in Italy for a second day are working out their final declaration as the group takes aim at Russia and countries enabling moscow’s war in Ukraine a draft communic seen by news agencies called on China to stop sending dual use materials to Russia such as weapon components and equipment used by Russia’s defense sector the draft statement is also set to include a vow that G7 Nations will back Ukraine for as long as it takes in a further show of support for ke and in the Kremlin a Russian President Vladimir Putin has reacted angrily to the developments in Italy here’s what he had to say about the g7’s plan for a 50 billion Euro loan for Ukraine financed from the interest on Frozen Russian assets Western countries have froze part of Russia’s assets and foreign exchange reserves and now they’re thinking about how to provide at least some legal basis in order to finally appropriate them but despite all the trickery theft is still theft and will not go unpunished let’s get more on moscow’s reaction from DW’s GEOS shimanovsky he joins us from Ria where DW has been reporting from since being banned from Russia let’s focus in on Putin’s threat that the seizure of Russian assets will not go unpunished what kind of punishment might he be considering well Michael Vladimir Putin didn’t go into details today but over the last weeks and months as these proposals were discussed we’ve heard many warnings from Kremlin officials um against such move the Kremlin has indicated that they will challenge any uh such decision as was Tak by G7 today in court so the Kremlin um wants to pursue legal action but secondly there are also threats of retaliation now Russia’s options are limited because of decreasing foreign investment in Russia there’s not as many state Assets in Russia that uh could be Frozen and this is why Russian officials have suggested that Russia could go after private investors cash instead and in fact in late May Vladimir Putin has signed a decree re allowing seizure of assets of us um companies of us individuals uh to compensate for any Russian assets that would be confiscated in the United States so I think this will be um This legal action and this um uh retaliation uh these will be the ways that the kreman will be exploring in the next weeks H in other comments as you well know Putin also tabled a ceasefire proposal tell us what he said and to what extent it should be taken seriously yes Vladimir Putin laid out his um terms for a permanent ceasefire in Ukraine and he said that this is uh possible under two conditions first Ukraine should give up on the plan to join NATO and secondly even more importantly he wants Ukrainian troops to pull out from the four territories that Russia claims to have annexed 2022 the donet luhansk Kon and zapia regions of Ukraine now Russia claims to have an next them but it doesn’t control them in fully so Vladimir Putin wants Ukrainian troops to pull out of them of these regions so obviously um these proposals are a non-starter from for Ukraine we’ve already heard from an Allied a from an aid to president zalinski who said that these proposals are offensive to Common Sense Ukraine wants Russian troops to pull out from these territories from the Ukrainian territory and um I think it’s important also to mention what Vladimir Putin laid out as broader terms for um these um uh for for peace in Ukraine he repeated what we’ve heard for the last two and a half years Ukraine should be in his terms deified de demilitarized Crimea and these other territories need to be need to be recognized as Russian territory so I think um these comments are important to be perceived in light of this big peace conference in UK on Ukraine that will take place over the weekend in Switzerland so Vlad where Russia is not represented so Vladimir Putin wants to present Russia as the site that is apparently open to negotiations and concessions in an attempt to I think it’s fair to assess as an attempt to hijack the agenda of this conference our thanks to DW correspondent GEOS shimanovsky in Ria of course thank you as we heard G7 leader also took aim at Chinese backing for Russia’s War Machine in their draft statement which comes hot on the heels of a fresh round of us sanctions on Russia to stop Beijing from doing business with Moscow the draft statement also blasted China on a range of other subjects let’s break it all down with DW’s China analyst Clifford kunan Clifford the G7 statement on China is Pretty Tough saying that it will take measures Against All actors in China who materially support Russia’s War Machine what does this mean for the China Russia relationship well right now um China is hitting the West in two key areas it’s hitting it on security and it’s hitting it on trade and these are two major issues um and the Russia China relationship is where these two issues overlap and so the response we’re seeing is to is to address both these issues using the the tools that the West has in terms of sanctions in terms ter of tariffs uh which it’s been introducing we we as as you mentioned the US has just sharpened its its um sanctions banking sanctions and we’re also seeing the European Union doing the same on for electric vehicles because China is shipping so many uh electric vehicles to to Europe that they’re worried about that so um at the moment what we’re seeing is is these two key areas being addressed in what is generally a fairly tough statement we should also mention the communic also says the G7 is not trying to harm China or thwart its Economic Development how do we read that it’s it’s an interesting I mean I don’t really know what it means I mean you know we we we are basically trying to impose these sanctions but at the same time we don’t want to we don’t want to thwart you it’s clearly a so to China to make it look as look this is nothing personal and it smacks of German influence um because one thing the G7 that we’ve seen is that there’s a lot of division on how to deal with China and how to deal with these issues that it’s facing Germany’s worried about affecting its China which is a huge market for its vehicles and it’s worried that it’s going to see reciprocal acts coming from China so it’s a kind of a soop it’s a weird it’s a weird statement and it I think it just highlights the differences that we’re seeing within the G7 the G7 also made a very strong statement about China’s militarization of the South China Sea uh does this Mark a different approach from G7 countries well this is very interesting I think because it’s showing a shift as well um with this is a very much a US aspect to this um and it’s looking to more the US is looking at its interest in the Pacific uh with the Australians um with uh and also with the with the UK um how it’s it’s it’s um it’s trying to help countries like the Philippines uh where we’re seeing increased militarization there and um it’s also seeing China build up a huge military so what you’re seeing with this is a message saying that um basically the US and and the UK and and in particular saying that we’ve got your back and this is um and this is the way we see things developing in this region Clifford coonan always appreciate your perspective many thanks

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would cease fire and enter peace talks if Ukraine withdrew its forces from four regions claimed by Moscow. Putin also denounced an agreement by Western countries to provide Ukraine with a loan package using frozen Russian assets and pledged retaliation.

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