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G7 warns Russia of expanded sanctions unless it backs ceasefire

Rubio joins other foreign ministers in seeking to ratchet up pressure on Vladimir Putin

 

Canada’s foreign minister Mélanie Joly: ‘The ball is now in Russia’s court when it comes to Ukraine’ © St-Jean Sebastien/AFP/Getty Images

Canada’s foreign minister Mélanie Joly: ‘The ball is now in Russia’s court when it comes to Ukraine’ © St-Jean Sebastien/AFP/Getty Images

The US and its G7 partners have warned Moscow they could expand sanctions and use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, as Donald Trump seeks to win over Vladimir Putin to his ceasefire proposal.

After a week in which Kyiv signed up to the 30-day truce but Moscow signalled reluctance to do so immediately, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and his counterparts achieved a degree of unity on Friday by thrashing out a joint statement on possible steps against Russia.

Their communiqué, released after a G7 meeting in Canada, noted the foreign ministers discussed imposing further penalties if the Kremlin did not fully implement a ceasefire.

Asked about US sanctions, Rubio cautioned that Trump “doesn’t want to do that right now, because he’s in the hopes of attracting people on both sides to a process where we can negotiate peace”.

He added it was not clear whether Russia was playing for time.

“The question is, are we actually moving towards a ceasefire, or is this a delay tactic?” the secretary of state said. “I’m not going to answer that because I can’t characterise that for you right now.”

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Author: Ilya Gridneff in Charlevoix, Felicia Schwartz in Washington, Fabrice Deprez in Kyiv and George Parker in London

Source: Financial Times

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