The United States and the European Union reached a “broad consensus” on the need to increase pressure on Russia, particularly through “new sanctions,” the Italian government said on Tuesday.
The allied countries also agreed on the need to “increase Moscow's international isolation,” the government said in a statement.
That announcement was confirmed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “We will further strengthen our sanctions against Russia and intensify financial and security aid to Ukraine,” he said in a tweet.
The decision was made during a telematic meeting dedicated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine between President Joe Biden and major US allies.
The videoconference brought together the leaders of France, Emmanuel Macron; Great Britain, Boris Johnson; Germany, Olaf Scholz; Romania, Klaus Iohannis; Poland, Andrzej Duda; Italy, Mario Draghi; Canada, Justin Trudeau; and Japan, Fumio Kishida.
Also participating were Von der Leyen, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the head of NATO Jens Stoltenberg.
In a statement, Stoltenberg confirmed that the participants agreed “on the importance of making Russia pay even more” for the invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, according to the Italian government, “the common commitment to diversify energy sources, thus reducing dependence on Russian supply” was reaffirmed.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said participants had discussed “their coordinated efforts to continue to inflict significant economic costs in order to hold Russia accountable” for their actions.
In a statement, the White House noted that “the leaders affirmed their solidarity with the Ukrainian people and condemned the humanitarian suffering caused by the unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Russia. They also discussed their coordinated efforts to impose severe economic costs to hold Russia accountable. They pledged to continue to consult closely, including working with and through the G7, the EU and NATO.”
The announcement of an increase in sanctions comes at a time when the Russian government is carrying out a new phase of its offensive against Ukraine in the Donbas region (east).
Pro-Moscow separatists have controlled parts of Donbas since 2014 in two self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
On Monday, in a speech at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyem, promised to “disarm the war of Russia, piece by piece, disrupting its military industrial complex and supply chains.”
“As long as the invasion of Russia continues, our sanctions will continue. Even as we continue to apply rigorous financial sanctions against Russia and its key financial institutions, the next phase of our work will be to disarm Russia's war machine, piece by piece, disrupting its military industrial complex and supply chains,” he said.
He noted that Russia's war against Ukraine has taken much longer than the Kremlin anticipated, largely due to the heroic efforts of the Ukrainian people and the support provided by the West: “That delay means that Russia's army will need to be resupplied and rebuilt. To prevent that from happening, we continue our efforts to use sanctions and export controls to deny Russia the critical inputs it needs, targeting key sectors such as aerospace, electronics and others related to the defense sector.”
The Treasury official noted that Washington will also continue to work to penalize countries that attempt to evade sanctions and restrict Russian leader Vladimir Putin's ability to project power, although he did not provide details on the type of sanctions or targets being considered.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will this week ask her counterparts in major economies to increase economic pain in Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The consequences of the war and the impact on the global economy will be key topics for discussion during the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, which began on Monday.
(With information from AFP)
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