G7 plans more sanctions against Russia; Ukraine to get $29.5-bn support

The Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Monday said they intend to continue to impose individual sanctions against Russia amid a "devastating war" that has produced dramatic consequences far beyond Europe.

Condemning unprovoked and unjustifiable war, the leaders pledged USD 29.5 billion worth of support to Ukraine to help the country close its financing gap and continue ensuring the delivery of basic services to the Ukrainian people.

"We remain appalled by and continue to condemn the brutal, unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine by Russia and aided by Belarus. We condemn and will not recognise Russia's continued attempts to re-draw borders by force. This devastating war has produced dramatic consequences far beyond Europe," the leaders said in a joint statement.

"We will continue our targeted use of coordinated sanctions for as long as necessary, acting in unison at every stage. Our use of sanctions is in defence of the rules-based international order that Russia has so egregiously violated. To this end, we endorse the annex on Supporting Ukraine Through Responsible Sanctions Against Russia," they added.

The G7 countries said they will cut off Russia from participating in world markets, as well as limit its revenues, including from gold exports.

"We will continue to explore new ways to isolate Russia from participating in the global market and crack down on evasion. We are determined to reduce Russia's revenues, including from gold. We will also continue to target evasion and backfilling activities. We will further reduce Russia's export revenues by taking appropriate steps to further reduce dependency on Russian energy," the leaders said.

The group also plans to further limit Russia's access to "key industrial inputs, services, and technologies produced by our economies, particularly those supporting Russia's armament industrial base and technology sector."

"We will continue to coordinate on tariff measures on imports from Russia and explore possible pathways in line with our respective legislation to use the revenues to assist Ukraine where applicable," the statement added.

The leaders also pledged USD 29.5 billion to help ensure the delivery of basic services to the Ukrainian people.

"As of today we are ready to grant, or have pledged and provided up to USD 29.5 billion of budget support in 2022 to help Ukraine close its financing gap and continue ensuring the delivery of basic services to the Ukrainian people," the statement read.

On the second day of the summit in Elmau, the main focus of the G7 heads of state and government will be continued support for Ukraine. On Sunday, the Chancellor welcomed the heads of state and government of the G7 to the summit under the German presidency.

"We are united by our view of the world. We are also united by our belief in democracy and the rule of law," said Chancellor Scholz at the beginning of the summit.

In a first working session on Sunday, the heads of state and government of the G7 discussed global economic issues.

"All G7 countries are concerned about the crises that are currently to be overcome -- falling growth rates in some countries, rising inflation, shortages of raw materials and disruption to supply chains. These are no small challenges and it is therefore important to share responsibility," said Scholz.