In front of a grandiose Alpine backdrop, American President Joe Biden swears by the unity of the West at a meeting with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"We have to stand together," said Biden on Sunday morning at the beginning of bilateral talks with the Chancellor, which took place before the first working session of the G-7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria.

Under a bright blue sky, the two heads of state shook hands on the balcony of an outbuilding of Schloss Elmau, the so-called "Summit Pavilion".

Biden praised the "magnificent view" of the mountains and thanked Scholz for his work.

"You are our closest ally," said the American President.

Russian President Vladimir Putin miscalculated because he expected a split in the western camp after the attack on Ukraine.

Julia Loehr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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France Wittenbrink

Editor in Politics.

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Biden landed in Munich late Saturday evening and traveled from there to Elmau.

It is his first visit to Germany since taking office in January 2021. On the flight to Munich, the American government had already emphasized the great importance of German-American relations: The President "of course appreciates the close partnership with Germany," said the communications director of the National Security Council at the White House, John Kirby, on Saturday before reporters.

Germany is a "strong NATO ally".

Kirby found words of praise, especially with regard to the delivery of heavy weapons to Kyiv.

The fact that Germany is also supplying "deadly weapon systems" to Ukraine is very important.

Americans announce further arms deliveries

The United States had just last Thursday announced further arms sales to Ukraine in the amount of 450 million dollars (about 428 million euros).

Since the beginning of the war at the end of February, the US government has promised or already delivered weapons and equipment worth around 6.1 billion dollars (around 5.8 billion euros) to Ukraine.

In view of the Russian war, the meeting of the heads of state and government of the seven leading Western industrialized countries, which include Germany and America, France, Italy, Great Britain, Canada and Japan, should send a clear signal of unity and support for Ukraine .

German government circles said on Saturday evening that Ukraine could expect further financial commitments from the G-7 countries.

Zelenskyj was there on Monday via video link

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also take part in the summit via video link, who again called for further arms deliveries late Saturday evening.

"The anti-aircraft systems, the modern systems that our partners have, should not be on training grounds or in camps, but in Ukraine, where they are needed now, more than anywhere else in the world," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message.

Around the same time as Scholz and Biden met, Kyiv became the target of Russian attacks again three weeks later.

According to the Ukrainian police, a building in the city center was hit by a rocket on Sunday morning.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko accused Russia of trying to intimidate Ukrainians ahead of the NATO summit that will follow the G-7 meeting in Madrid.

Most recently, the Ukrainian capital was the target of Russian attacks in early June.

According to the Federal Government's assessment, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine will shape a large part of the debates in Elmau.

Shortly before the start of the G-7 summit, Great Britain, the USA, Japan and Canada announced that they would expand their sanctions against Russia.

The British government announced on Sunday that the four states would "soon" put an import ban on Russian gold into effect.

Biden also announced such a decision during the three-day meeting.

Biden wrote on Twitter on Sunday that Russia would lose tens of billions of dollars in revenue from this important export commodity.

Debate on possible “oil cap”

The further course of action regarding the sanctions against Russia also includes the debate about a possible oil cap.

The industrialized countries are under pressure to do something about the sharp rise in energy prices.

It is not just a question of how citizens and companies can be relieved of the high costs of petrol and oil and gas, but also how Russia can be weakened economically and how it can be made more difficult for President Vladimir Putin to continue financing the war.

The EU has so far decided on six packages of sanctions, most recently a gradual phase-out of oil imports from Russia by the end of the year - albeit with exceptions.

Shortly before the EU agreed on this gradual embargo, the Russian finance minister calculated that his country was expecting additional income of the equivalent of 13.7 billion euros from oil and gas exports this year.

The Western countries are in a dilemma: the economic prospects in Europe and the United States are currently clouding over from week to week.

Tariffs on energy supplies from Russia were an idea to slow down the rise in prices in the West.

Now the Americans are putting pressure on to set a price cap for Russian oil.

The problem with this: In order for it to work, all customers would have to participate.

India and China have recently significantly increased their imports from Russia.

There are also different interests within the EU: Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi is primarily promoting a price cap for gas - a position that is controversial in the EU.

In addition, the problem remains that the influence of the G7 is limited.

Even if the seven countries should find a common position, they represent less than half of global economic output.