G7 agrees new sanctions to ‘starve Russia’s war machine’

Leaders from the Group of Seven nations agreed new sanctions on Friday that they said would “starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine”.

The move comes after the United States, Britain and the European Union all announced fresh efforts to turn the screws on Moscow, 15 months into Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The bloc, meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, said that they would move to further restrict Russia’s access to G7 economies.

“We will broaden our actions to ensure that exports of all items critical to Russia’s aggression… are restricted across all our jurisdictions,” they said in a statement.

‘We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” added the bloc, which includes Britain, the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the European Union.

The grouping said they would step up efforts to prevent circumvention of their existing sanctions regime, “including targeting entities transporting material to the front”.

Earlier Friday, the United States and other members announced their own new measures, with a senior US administration official saying another 70 entities from Russia and “other countries” would be placed on a US blacklist.

London, meanwhile, took aim at Russia’s $4-5 billion annual trade in diamonds, announcing a ban on the import of the gems, along with copper, aluminium and nickel.

The G7 statement also pledged to “restrict trade in and use of diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia”, including with the use of tracing technologies.

EU member Belgium is among the largest wholesale buyers of Russian diamonds, along with the United Arab Emirates and India, whose prime minister Narendra Modi will join the G7 talks this weekend.