War in Ukraine: new US sanctions against the Russian “war machine”

The United States is getting stronger. Washington has decided on “significant” new sanctions targeting “the Russian military machine,” a senior US official said shortly before the start of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, on Friday, which President Joe Biden is due to attend. This American initiative comes at a time when the leaders of the major industrialized democracies must, among other things, agree in Japan to toughen up against Russia and find a common line in the face of China’s growing military and economic power.

According to a senior Biden administration official, the US measures are designed to “significantly limit Russia’s access to products needed for its combat capabilities.” They will prevent “approximately 70 organizations in Russia and other countries from receiving U.S. exports by adding them to the Department of Commerce blacklist,” the official added, referring to more than 300 new sanctions against “people, organizations, ships, and aircraft” across the country. country. Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Other members of the G7, which includes the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Canada, are also preparing to “impose new sanctions and barriers to exports,” he said. The G7 will work to disrupt Russian military supplies, close loopholes to circumvent sanctions, further reduce its reliance on Russian energy, continue to restrict Moscow’s access to the international financial system, and pledge to freeze Russian assets until the end of the war, according to this source. . sure.

Suspense around the presence of Zelensky

A European Union official announced Thursday that the G7 talks will focus on Russia’s diamond industry, which brings Moscow several billion dollars a year. “We believe in limiting the export of Russian trade in this sector,” the source said, adding that joining India, one of the main importers of diamonds, would also be critical to the success of any new measure.

G7 leaders will be able to present their position directly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country has close military ties to Russia and who has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. India is one of eight third countries whose leaders were invited to the Hiroshima summit, a way for the G7 to try to rally some states unwilling to oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine and Beijing’s growing military ambitions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to speak via videoconference over the weekend. The Japanese government ruled out the possibility of his personal visit, but the rumors persisted.

The G7 talks will officially begin on Friday afternoon JST after the leaders visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Heads of state and government will lay wreaths at the cenotaph in Hiroshima, which commemorates the approximately 140,000 people who died as a result of the US atomic bombing on August 6, 1945.