By Keita Nakamura,
The Group of Seven foreign ministers on Monday agreed to step up cooperation to prevent Russia from evading economic sanctions and securing weapons supplies from other countries to aid its invasion of Ukraine, specifically naming Iran to stop providing military assistance.
In the latest show of support to Ukraine, the top diplomats from the industrialized nations agreed on the second day of their three-day talks in the central Japan town of Karuizawa to commit to "intensifying, fully coordinating and enforcing" punitive steps against Russia, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The G-7, which groups Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union, also condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement late last month that his country will deploy tactical nuclear weapons to its ally Belarus.
The Ukraine war has continued for more than a year even as the G-7 members have imposed sweeping sanctions to cripple Russia's economy, including against actors believed to be enabling sanctions evasion. But still there are concerns of loopholes.
The G-7 ministers "concurred on reinforcing coordination to prevent and respond to the evasion of sanctions, as well as third-party weapons supplies to Russia," the Japanese ministry said in a press release.
With Iranian drones known to be used in the Ukraine battlefield, the G-7 foreign ministers demanded that Tehran suspend its support for the Russia military, it said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who is chairing the meeting, said at the beginning of Monday's talks that the G-7 intends to demonstrate its "strong determination" to uphold the international order based on the rule of law.
"We will firmly reject any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, including Russia's aggression against Ukraine, as well as its threat to use nuclear weapons," Hayashi said in the meeting, part of which was made available to media.
Hayashi also stressed the importance of the G-7 beefing up collaboration with other countries in the Global South, with many of them, including India, taking a neutral position over the conflict in Ukraine and refraining from imposing punitive steps on Moscow.
Developing countries have particularly been bearing the brunt of the fallout of the war and the economic sanctions imposed by the West, with food and energy prices surging.
Russia is one of the world's biggest grain, oil and gas exporters, and Ukraine is a major wheat and corn producer.
During the discussions on the Indo-Pacific, where China is increasing its clout, the G-7 foreign ministers also agreed to step up engagement with the Pacific island nations.
The United States and its allies have been alarmed by China's recent outreach to the region, including its signing of a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April last year.
The islands have also been the forefront of a turf war between China and Taiwan, with Kiribati and the Solomon Islands both having switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 2019.
The talks focusing on the Indo-Pacific continued from a day before, in which the G-7 foreign ministers agreed there must be unity in dealing with the various challenges in the region, including China and North Korea, according to the ministry.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell canceled his trip to Japan after testing positive for the coronavirus, with Enrique Mora, deputy secretary general for political affairs of the European External Action Service, representing the 27-member bloc, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
A joint statement will be released on the final day of the meeting, with the related discussions to be reflected at the leaders' summit slated for next month in the western Japan city of Hiroshima.
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