Washington reportedly wants to “water down” the wording of the final communique
The US has been pushing to soften the language aimed at Russia in the final communique of the upcoming G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Bloomberg has reported, citing a draft of the joint statement and people familiar with the matter.
The Group of Seven, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US, will meet next week in the Canadian city of Charlevoix.
According to the report published on Saturday, the Trump administration is pushing to strengthen the language on China while “watering down” the wording on Russia. The US wants to remove the word “sanctions” from the final statement and replace the wording about Russia’s “ability to maintain its war” with “earn revenue,” Bloomberg said.
The US has reportedly rejected Canada’s proposal to establish a task force that would monitor the so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers the West claims Russia is operating to bypass sanctions on energy exports. During the final weeks of the Biden administration, the US blacklisted more than 180 vessels allegedly used to illegally transport Russian oil. Moscow insists that all Western sanctions are illegal and has denied operating a ‘shadow fleet.’
US President Donald Trump has abandoned his predecessor’s strategy of “isolating” Russia on the world stage and reopened direct talks with Russia that were suspended in 2022. He repeatedly stressed that his priority was to end the conflict through diplomacy and that he would focus on achieving a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev.
Last week, Trump suggested that the US could lift sanctions “at some point” during peace talks. He has since threatened Moscow with a new round of “large-scale” sanctions until a ceasefire and “final settlement agreement on peace” is reached.
Moscow has stated Western sanctions have failed to weaken or isolate Russia, instead harming the countries that imposed them. Russia also said that no amount of foreign pressure would stop its troops.
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