LIVERPOOL, England: The grouping of the seven richest democracies on Saturday tried to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine, putting up a united front to warn of dire consequences of any incursion and urging Moscow to return to the negotiating table. Did.
Led by British Foreign Minister Liz Truss, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the European Union and the foreign ministers of France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada met in the northern English city of Liverpool.
The G7 meeting comes as the West frowns over China’s military and economic ambitions, the possibility that talks to stop Iran from going the nuclear weapons path could fail, and as Russia seeks troops along the Ukrainian border. Crowd.
A senior US State Department official described the day’s talks as “intense” and said there was still a diplomatic way to defuse tensions with Russia.
“If they (Russia) choose not to follow that path, it will have massive consequences and serious costs in the response, and the G7 is completely united in that,” he said. Will be implemented very fast.”
Addressing the inaugural session of the talks, British Foreign Minister Liz Truss urged the G7 to speak in one voice.
“We need to defend ourselves against growing threats from hostile actors and we need to stand firm against aggressors who seek to limit the limits of freedom and democracy,” he said at the start of the meeting.
Ukraine is at the center of a crisis in east-west relations as it accuses Russia of gathering thousands of troops to prepare for a potentially large-scale military offensive.
Russia denies any attack plans and accuses Ukraine and the United States of destabilizing behavior, saying it needs security guarantees to protect itself.
“We need to take every step to return to talks,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Barbock told reporters. Germany takes over the leadership of the G-7 from Britain next year.
Washington is sending its top diplomat for Europe, Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried, to Ukraine and Russia to meet with senior government officials on December 13-15.
“Assistant Secretary Donfried will emphasize that we can make diplomatic progress on ending the conflict in the Donbass through the implementation of the Minsk Agreements in support of the Normandy format,” the US State Department said in a statement.
come together
Ministers arrived at Liverpool’s museum in a brass band playing Christmas carols, before starting closed-door meetings covering development finance, geopolitics and security. They later went on to take in the city’s musical heritage over dinner at an exhibition telling the story of the Beatles.
Britain is calling on members of the G7 to be more stringent in its defense of what it calls the “free world”, and discussions are held throughout the day on Russia, China and Iran. A statement on the results of the talks is due on Sunday.
The United States, Britain, France and Germany met late Friday to discuss the way forward on Iran, after talks resumed in Vienna on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
Sunday’s statement is expected to include an opportunity for Iran to moderate its nuclear program and revive a multilateral agreement under which Iran limits its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
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