G7 leaders to target Russian energy, trade in new sanctions: sources
- New measures announced by the G7 leaders will seek to undermine Russia’s future energy production and curb trade that supports Russia’s military, sources said
- The G7 leaders’ action on Russia comes as Ukraine’s Western allies hunt for new ways to tighten already restrictive sanctions on Russia
New measures announced by the leaders during the May 19-21 meetings will target sanctions evasion involving third countries, and seek to undermine Russia’s future energy production and curb trade that supports Russia’s military, the people said.
That change could make it harder for Moscow to find gaps in the sanctions regime.
While the allies have not agreed to apply the more-restrictive approach broadly, US officials expect that in the most sensitive areas for Russia’s military G7 members will adopt a presumption that exports are banned unless they are on a designated list.
The exact areas where these new rules would apply are still being discussed.
“You should expect to see, in a handful of spaces, particularly relating to Russia’s defence industrial base, that change in presumption happen,” said a US official who declined to be named.
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Some US allies have resisted the idea of banning trade broadly and then issuing category-by-category exemptions.
“The sometimes-discussed approach of ‘we ban everything first and allow exceptions’ will not work in our view,” said one top German government official. “We want to be very, very precise and we want to avoid unintended side effects.”
Meanwhile, any change in language, including language specifying that certain trade is banned unless specifically exempted, by the G7 leaders may not necessarily lead to more bans immediately or indeed any change in Russia’s posture.
“At least on day one, that change in presumption doesn’t change the substance of what’s allowed, but it matters for the long-term trajectory of where we’re going and the restrictiveness of the overall regime,” the US official said.