G-7 leaders signal a united front on sanctions for Russia

Associated Press

ELMAU, GERMANY

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she expects a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies to produce a “united signal” that sanctions against Russia can only be softened if a February peace accord for Ukraine is fully implemented.

Even before the issue was brought to the table, most of the leaders already had expressed their support for the idea.

This year’s meeting of the leading industrialized democracies was the second in a row without Russia, which was ejected from what was the G-8 last year over its actions in Ukraine.

Even with President Vladimir Putin absent, Russia was prominent in the leaders’ minds as they gathered in the Bavarian Alps.

Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed during a pre-summit bilateral meeting that the duration of sanctions imposed upon Moscow should be “clearly linked to Russia’s full implementation of the Minsk” peace accord agreed in February, the White House said.

Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, another summit participant, were central to drawing up that accord.

Later, Merkel stressed anew in an interview with Germany’s public ZDF television that sanctions are not an end in themselves and they “can be dispensed with when the conditions under which they were introduced are no longer there and the problems are resolved.”

The U.S. and the European Union have imposed financial restrictions on Russian companies and individuals to pressure Russia into stopping its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

They and NATO say Russian troops and military equipment have been used on Ukrainian territory – something Russia denies.

Tusk said Russia’s possible return to the G-8 would depend on a turn-around in Moscow’s foreign policy.