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A US government spokesman has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using “food as a weapon of war”. It is estimated that up to 40 million people could fall into poverty this year as a result of Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. It also affects food security worldwide.
With this project, the G7 reacted to global disruptions in food supplies as a result of the war in Ukraine. Before the war, Ukraine was one of the world’s leading exporters of grain.
However, exports this year have declined as a result of the war of Russian aggression and the blockade of Ukrainian ports. Rising prices and barriers to deliveries are the consequences of the blockade, from which many poor countries are suffering very badly.
Oil and gas price limit from Russia?
The G7 countries are also aiming to set the highest limit on Russian oil and gas prices. This emerges from the final statement of the summit meeting of heads of state and government, reports the Reuters news agency. Such a price cap is intended to limit the Russian government’s ability to finance its occupation of Ukraine. The US government announced on Monday that it would agree to such a measure. But the higher price limit can only be applied in cooperation with major oil importing countries like China or India.
Both countries have even boosted gas and oil imports from Russia following its February 24 attack on Ukraine. Therefore, the wording in the G7 declaration aims at cooperation with other countries. The EU will consider ways to reduce energy prices with international partners, including the possibility of introducing temporary price limits on imports, the statement said. A G7 official said this applies to both oil and gas. The United States has already banned the purchase of Russian oil, while the EU will cut imports by the end of the year.
According to information from EU circles, the G7 countries also want to impose sanctions on gold imports from Russia. This should strengthen the measures taken against the government in Moscow due to the war of aggression in Ukraine, it was said on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Elmau. At the meeting, the US, UK, Canada and Japan clearly supported the ban on Russian gold imports. On the other hand, the EU countries, Germany, France and Italy, are still hesitant because sanctions must be imposed unanimously by all 27 member states of the European Union.
Measures against forced labor in China
U.S. circles at the summit announce that G7 countries also want to take action against forced labor in China. Products produced by forced labor must be excluded from global supply chains. This is stated in the final document of the heads of state and government of the seven most important industrialized western countries, according to the circles of the US delegation.
This has never happened before and is mainly aimed at punishing practices in China, it says further. The G7 heads of state and government will conclude their summit in Elmau this afternoon./dw
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