The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), who met this week in Italy, will promise to tighten the price ceiling on Russian oil, "strangle" the Kremlin's future energy projects and reduce Moscow's metals revenues, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg, UNN reports.
Details
"We will continue to put significant pressure on Russia's revenues from energy and other commodities," the statement, which is expected to be released on Friday, reads.
The G7 price ceiling on Russian oil and oil products prohibits Western shipowners, insurers, and intermediaries from providing vessels and services for cargoes whose price exceeds thresholds.
While the restrictions have led to a rejection of Western insurance and a need for alternatives, Moscow has been able to avoid most of the consequences by building a fleet of tankers operating in hard-to-track jurisdictions and turning to non-Western service providers to deliver its barrels to new markets like India, the paper notes.
The United States, the United Kingdom, and the EU have recently begun to impose sanctions on vessels involved in these shipments.
"The Group of Seven "will take steps, including sanctions and innovative enforcement measures using appropriate geographic regions, to combat Russia's use of deceptive alternative shipping practices to circumvent our sanctions through its shadow fleet," the statement said.
The G7 leaders will also pledge to do more to impede "the development of future energy projects and disrupt access to the goods and services on which these projects depend" and continue to reduce Russia's metals revenues.
The focus of much of this week's Group of Seven summit in Puglia, southern Italy, has been Russia's war against Ukraine, with the group agreeing on a $50 billion 'loan syndicate' plan to use the profits generated by frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.
The G7 will also reportedly present energy infrastructure and food security initiatives for Africa, and pledge to support the design and development of a mechanism for low-income countries "to provide rapid response financing in anticipation of major food crises, and to leverage private capital from global insurance markets.
Other highlights:
- The G7 is closely following the dispute over the oil-rich territory of Guyana known as Essequibo, which Venezuela has claimed as its own.
- Calling on China to stop helping Russia and stating that Beijing's trade policies "lead to global spillovers, market distortions, and harmful and growing overcapacity in a number of sectors, undermining our workers, industries, and economic stability and security."
- "The G7 reiterates that they have no intention of breaking off relations and are not trying to harm China or hinder its economic development.
- Reaffirm the obligation of states to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, "including not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction, to install such weapons on celestial bodies, or to place such weapons in outer space in any other way." This is, as points out, a reference to earlier US warnings that Russia was planning to deploy anti-satellite nuclear weapons in space.
- The G7 will expand the scope of sanctions to companies and banks, including those in China, that help and allow Russia to circumvent sanctions on goods and technologies used in weapons.