The world’s leading industrialized nations met without Russia for the first time in 17 years yesterday, leaving Russian President Vladimir Putin out of the talks in retaliation for his seizure of Crimea and Russia’s part in destabilizing eastern Ukraine.
The two-day G7 summit, taking place in Brussels rather than the previously planned Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, was to cover foreign policy, economics, trade and energy security.
The latter is an issue of particularly high sensitivity to Europe after months of tension with Moscow, which supplies nearly a third of Europe’s oil and gas.
Photo: AFP
While it is the first time Russia will not be at the table since joining the club in 1997, Putin will still hold one-on-one talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande this week, on the sidelines of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
The decision to drop Russia from the group was taken by its other members in March, after Moscow seized Crimea and annexed it, a move not recognized internationally.
Since then, the EU and the US have imposed travel bans and asset freezes on senior Russian and Crimean officials and threatened to apply much harder-hitting economic and trade measures if Moscow is deemed for have further destabilized eastern Ukraine.
Photo: EPA
Officials responsible for coordinating this week’s summit said Moscow had a long way to go to prove its intentions were sound and that it was capable of acting like a “normal democratic country.”
“It’s a bit early at this stage, but I wouldn’t rule out the heads of state discussing how they see the future of the G7 or the G8,” said one European official. “It was Russia that distanced itself from the G8 via its actions in Ukraine. It is up to Russia to behave in line with international law and the values of the G8. That would be the prerequisite for the G8 to become the G8 again.”
“We cannot exclude that if there is an aggravation of the situation, the EU or the G7 will have to consider further measures against Russia,” another official said.
The summit, which is to finish today, was to begin with a dinner to discuss foreign policy, including Russia and EU assistance to Ukraine, as well as Syria, Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic and North Korea, officials said.
Economic discussions today are expected to be dominated by trade, including ongoing EU-US, EU-Canada and EU-Japan free-trade negotiations, cooperation on tax avoidance and efforts to sustain the global economic recovery.
“Supporting growth and jobs remains the key priority for the G7 members and recovery is taking hold,” said a summit briefing paper distributed on Tuesday.
After economics, leaders are to discuss energy and climate policy, including efforts to diversify supplies — code in Europe for shifting away from dependence on Russian oil and gas — and reduce carbon emissions via greater energy efficiency.
The summit’s final session, over lunch today, is to cover development assistance, including disease control and vaccination programs in Africa and food security.
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