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TIRANA, June 26 – The summit for the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States started in a castle in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday.
The three-day meeting is being held in the shadow of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Political analysts say the G-7 leaders are expected to present unanimous support for Ukraine in its battle with Russia.
“The summit must send not only the message that NATO and the G-7 are more united than ever,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told German parliament recently, “but also that the democracies of the world stand together against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s imperialism just as they do in the fight against hunger and poverty.”
As the G7 meeting opened, Russian missiles rained down on the capital Kyiv, striking at least two residential buildings, according to the city’s mayor — attacks many military analysts interpret as Moscow’s signal to G7 leaders.
The sanctions placed on Russia have sparked a spike in global food and energy prices.
The G7 strategy has relied heavily on sanctions to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, but instead of crippling the Kremlin’s war machine, the effect has largely been blunted by China and India picking up the slack and buying more Russian oil.
Both India and South Africa have been invited to observe the G7 meeting. The leaders of both countries skipped this week’s Commonwealth Summit.
Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau said he’s already spoken with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and expects the message will be delivered loud and clear to both countries.
“If Putin continues to believe he can act with impunity – and not just cause horrific damage and loss of life in Ukraine but directly cause loss of life and opportunity for people around the world – the world needs to continue to stand up against him,” he said Saturday at the conclusion of the Commonwealth leaders meeting in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital.
Trudeau met one-on-one with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday.
“Lots of hard work to do on climate change, and on Ukraine, and on growing the economy,” Trudeau said.
For his part, Johnson suggested the leaders will need to talk about the pressures each of them are facing at home and how that impacts what’s happening on the international stage.
“We’re going to talk about the subjects Justin mentioned,” Boris said, “but also what’s been so encouraging about the whole crisis is the way the G7 has been unified.”
In a separate interview with Reuters, Johnson elaborated on the point more specifically, saying he believes that “the pressure is there and the anxiety is there” to stay united.
“NATO has been solid, the G7 has been solid, and we continue to be solid,” he said, “but in order to protect that unity, in order to make it work, you’ve got to have really, really honest discussions about the implications of what’s going on, the pressures that individual friends and partners are feeling and populations are feeling, whether it’s on the costs of their energy or food or whatever.”
The meeting of G7 leaders in Schloss Elmau, nestled in the Bavarian Alps, will be followed immediately on Wednesday by a gathering of NATO powers in Madrid, at which time the Western military alliance is expected to sign off on a bulked-up presence in eastern Europe to deter further potential aggression by Moscow.
/Argumentum.al
