The Bavarian slopes of the Alps become from today and for the next two days the backdrop for talks between the leaders of the world's seven most developed industrialised nations, with the main topic of discussion being the evolution of the war in Ukraine but also the intensification of pressure on China.
Faced with a major economic and energy crisis and amid fears of an impending recession and crises over energy and food supplies, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are seeking urgent solutions to both Vladimir Putin and the spectre of China.
While the seven world leaders were still arriving in the Bavarian Alps, the Russian military more than made its presence felt in Ukraine, firing missiles into Kiev and other cities, injuring at least five people, including a 7-year-old girl.
"This 7-year-old child was sleeping peacefully in Kiev until the moment a Russian cruise missile blew up her house. Many more across Ukraine are being hit. The G7 summit should respond with more sanctions on Russia and more heavy weapons for Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on Sunday, clearly conveying his message of what Ukraine expects from the summit.
Joe Biden, for his part, coming to the summit, described today's Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital as another example of Russian brutality.
"It's another Russian brutality," Biden said.
In a statement, the White House said Biden discussed with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz efforts to manage the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on global energy and food security and the challenges posed by China.
"Germany is one of our closest partners in the world and we need to make sure that we stay united and continue to work on the economic challenges to overcome them together and come out of them stronger," US President Joe Biden said after his one-on-one meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit.
Macron-Johnson: Reversing the course of the war
In their own meeting on the sidelines of the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson assessed that the conflict in Ukraine is at a critical juncture and that "it is possible to reverse the course of the war," a British government spokesman said after the two leaders met.
According to the same spokesman, however, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson simultaneously warned of the "temptation" of a negotiated solution "now", which they pointed out carries the risk of prolonging global instability.
Earlier, Johnson had referred to the need to make "very tough" choices to protect British steel in the face of soaring energy prices, suggesting among other things the imposition of customs duties.
The British Prime Minister also referred to the German government's stance, calling it "big steps."
"I never in my life thought I would see a German chancellor intervene the way Olaf Scholz does and send arms to help the Ukrainians defend their country. We get 4 percent of our gas from Russia, while Germany gets 40 percent," Johnson said, adding that "Germans know that it is worth paying the cost of freedom; the cost of backing down would be much higher and everyone understands that."
Target Russian gold
The direction in which the next decisions of the G7 against Russia will go was revealed earlier by Downing Street, saying Britain, the US, Canada and Japan will ban imports of Russian gold as part of new sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
"These measures will directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin's war machine," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said."
The ban is expected to come into force soon and will apply to newly mined or refined gold. It will not affect gold of Russian origin previously exported from Russia, the British government clarified in a statement.
"Putin is wasting his resources in this futile and barbaric war. He is feeding his ego at the expense of the Ukrainian and Russian people," Johnson added.
"We must drain the funding of Putin's regime. That is what we are doing with our allies."
Russia is a major gold producer and its exports accounted for nearly 15 billion euros in 2021, according to Downing Street, which hopes the measure will particularly hurt Russian elites who could buy gold "to try to circumvent Western sanctions."
China also in the crosshairs
China and its role in the new economic horizon is expected to be a key item on the Seven's agenda, with the US keen to put the issue on the table. After all, the White House was quick to announce yesterday, Saturday, that the G7 agenda includes issues such as addressing forced labor and issues of intellectual property theft by China.
"The Group of Seven (G7) rich countries will address what is seen as the use of forced labor and intellectual property theft by China and other issues," the White House said.
But while Americans are coming across as more "apprehensive" about China, Europeans are likely to be much more cautious about the Asian country as the world heads into a rolling economic storm, Politico notes.
Guests
This year, Solts invited as partner countries Senegal, which currently chairs the African Union, Argentina, head of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, as well as Indonesia and India, the current and upcoming hosts of the G20 group of major industrialized countries , and South Africa.
"The summit must send the message not only that NATO and the G7 are more united than ever, but also that the world's democracies stand together against Putin's imperialism just as they do in the fight against hunger and poverty," Scholz told the German parliament last week.
Source: cnn.gr
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