G7 Weighs New Sanctions On Russia To End Ukraine War

Existing sanctions are some of the toughest ever imposed on a major economy, but there is still room to increase pressure.

By some accounts, sanctions against Russia have left it more isolated than at any point since the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, when the allies of World War I put the country under a blockade –
Hiroshima, Japan

At the Group of Seven summit taking place in Japan’s Hiroshima from Friday, the club of rich democracies are expected to tighten the screws further as they attempt to force Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.

While the existing sanctions on Russia are some of the toughest ever imposed on a major economy, the G7 has considerable room to increase pressure – although divisions over key areas like energy and the mixed track record of sanctions generally threaten to undermine efforts to bring Moscow to heel.

“There is definitely plenty of space for the G7 to impose further restrictions and tighten the existing ones,” Rachel Lukasz, a member of the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions at Stanford University, told Al Jazeera.

“The most important areas include oil and energy more broadly, non-energy trade sanctions and closing loopholes in this area, and technology sanctions.”

A key focus of the G7 members – the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy – is expected to be enhancing the enforcement of existing sanctions, including clamping down on sanctions evasion involving third countries.

On Saturday, G7 finance ministers and central bank governors pledged in a joint statement to counter “any attempts to evade and undermine our sanction measures.”

The EU, which participates in G7 events as a “non-enumerated” member, is considering penalties for companies that help Russia get around sanctions, which would bring the bloc closer into alignment with the US sanctions regime.

Aljazeera/Shakirat Sadiq