2014-06-06 10:41:00

G7 leaders call on Russia to engage with Ukraine


(Vatican Radio) The leaders of the G7 group of industrialized nations will face Russian President Vladimir Putin at D-Day commemorations in France, after threatening more sanctions against Russia for its intervention in Ukraine. Yet the gathering has been overshadowed by France causing friction over a military deal with Moscow.   

The leaders of the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, known as the G7, ended their talks telling it should help to ease tensions in Ukraine, where it annexed the Crimean Peninsula. 

They said Russia would face more sanctions unless it withdraws all troops from the Ukrainian border and stop its alleged supply of weapons and extra forces to separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.   

After G7 talks in Brussels, where Russia was not welcome, U.S. President Barrack Obama said he would send a tough message to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in France, where the two participate in events marking the 70th anniversary of the famed D-Day invasion of Western allies in Normandy, that helped to end World War Two.       

"There is a path, on which Russia has the capacity to engage directly with [Ukrainian] President-[elect] Poroshenko now – he should take it! If he does not, we have no choice but to respond,” the American leader stressed.

Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko earlier spoke with G7 leaders, including Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Those meetings came ahead of his inauguration on Saturday at a time when the West seeks even closer ties with Kyiv. 

“The opportunities which are going to be opened after the inauguration of the new Ukrainian president and the opportunities of perception of the new peace programme in the Ukrainian East have to be used fully,” added Poroshenko, a chocolate-tycoon-turned politician.  

Yet Obama acknowledged that cracks have appeared in the G7 cooperation. Obama criticized France for going ahead with the sale of powerful warships to Russia despite calls for Paris to keep the vessel out of Moscow’s hands.

“I have expressed some concerns and I don’t think I’m alone in the about continuing significant defense deals with Russia at a time when they have violated international law," Obama told a news conference in Brussels. "I think it would have been preferable to press the pause button.”

About 400 Russian sailors are scheduled to arrive on June 22 in the French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire to undergo months of instruction before some of them pilot the first of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers back to Russia in the autumn. 

The training is a crucial step in France’s commitment to fulfilling a $1.6 billion contract to supply Russia with the carriers, which experts say are built to launch amphibious attacks with landing craft, helicopters and tanks.

Yet, the deal has underscored friction among Western allies over how to deal with Russia at a time of crisis, as they have different economic interests in the oil and natural gas rich nation.    Listen to this report by Stefan Bos

 








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