At their meeting this week in Japan, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries intend to impose more stringent sanctions on Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the deliberations, Azernews reported citing Reuters. The sanctions will target energy and exports that support Moscow’s military campaign.
The persons stated that further measures announced by the leaders during the meetings on May 19–21 will target third-country sanctions evasion and seek to impair Russia’s future energy production and curtail trade that supports Russia’s military.
Separately, U.S. officials anticipate that the G7 will agree to change how it handles sanctions so that, at least for some product categories, all exports are automatically prohibited unless they are on a list of permitted commodities.
Prior to this, the Biden administration has lobbied G7 countries to change the group’s sanctions policy, which now permits the sale of any commodities to Russia unless they are specifically prohibited.
