The US has been pushing to soften the language aimed at Russia in the final communique of the upcoming G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Bloomberg has reported, citing a draft of the joint statement and people familiar with the matter.
The Group of Seven, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and US, will meet next week in the Canadian city of Charlevoix.
According to the report published on Saturday, the administration of US President Donald Trump is pushing to strengthen the language on China while “watering down” the wording on Russia. The US wants to remove the word ‘sanctions’ from the final statement and replace the wording about Russia’s ability to “maintain its war” with “earn revenue,” Bloomberg said.
The US has reportedly rejected Canada’s proposal to establish a task force that would monitor the so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers the West claims Russia is operating to bypass sanctions on energy exports. During the final weeks of the previous administration of President Joe Biden, the US blacklisted more than 180 vessels allegedly used to illegally transport Russian oil. Moscow insists that all Western sanctions are illegal and has denied that it operates a shadow fleet.
Trump has abandoned his predecessor’s strategy of “isolating” Russia on the world stage and reopened direct talks with Russia, which were suspended in 2022. He has stressed that his priority is to end the conflict through diplomacy and reach a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev.
Last week, Trump suggested that the US could lift the sanctions “at some point” during peace talks. He has since threatened Moscow with a new round of “large-scale” sanctions until a ceasefire and a “final settlement agreement on peace” is reached.
Moscow has stated that the Western sanctions have failed to weaken or isolate Russia, instead harming the countries that imposed them.
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