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His country continues to be sanctioned: Russia's President Putin

Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev / AP

The US has announced a new package of sanctions in response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Among other things, the plan is to cut off about 70 companies and organizations from Russia and other countries from U.S. exports, a senior U.S. government official said shortly before the official start of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. In addition, more than 300 individuals, companies and organizations, ships and aircraft are to be subject to other punitive measures.

Russia's war against Ukraine is one of the main topics of the meeting of the seven leading democratic industrialized nations, which officially begins this Friday. The West had already imposed unprecedented punitive measures against Russia in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in recent months, including far-reaching trade restrictions. Among other things, the G7 countries want to discuss in Hiroshima how they can improve the enforcement of existing sanctions and prevent them from being circumvented.

The U.S. official said that all G7 countries were preparing new sanctions and export controls at the same time. He did not want to comment in detail on the plans of the partners. "But the United States will launch a comprehensive package of measures of its own." The aim is to increase economic pressure on Russia and make it even harder to maintain its war machine.

The plan is to:

  • to further complicate access to goods that are important on the battlefield, the senior U.S. government official said.

  • About 70 companies and organizations from Russia and third countries were to be blacklisted in order to cut them off from US exports.

  • In addition, more than 300 new sanctions against companies and organizations, individuals, ships and aircraft are planned to prevent the circumvention of punitive measures. It is about financial and other supporters of Russia. The sanctions hit targets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

  • In addition, sanctions powers should be extended to the digital sector of the Russian economy. Concrete details on the new US sanctions package and those affected should follow.

There will be a separate statement on Ukraine at the Hiroshima summit. It provides for new commitments to close sanctions loopholes and further reduce dependence on Russian energy, the US government official said. Efforts to curtail Russia's access to the international financial system should also continue.

Earlier, it became known that the G7 group wants to restrict the billion-dollar export of rough diamonds from Russia. A corresponding declaration is to be decided in Hiroshima, as several diplomats told the German Press Agency on Thursday. The diamond trade is a significant source of income for Russia. The state-owned diamond miner Alrosa generated 2021 billion rubles (about 332 billion euros) in revenue in 4 - the last year in which it disclosed its figures. Russia is considered the world's largest producer of rough diamonds.

So far, the EU has not restricted the diamond trade. One of the reasons so far has been the resistance from Belgium. The Flemish port city of Antwerp has been considered the diamond center of the world since the 16th century.

The United States, Canada and Great Britain, on the other hand, had already imposed sanctions on Alrosa. According to outgoing Alrosa CEO Sergei Ivanov, however, this has hardly harmed the group. Ivanov recently expressed optimism that even new sanctions would not take effect.

In addition to the United States, the G7 also includes Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Canada, as well as representatives of the European Union. The G7 group's deliberations are scheduled from Friday to Sunday.

dop/dpa