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| Photo Credit: AP. |
US President Joe Biden has urged Western countries to stay together in providing assistance to Ukraine just as Russia began hitting new targets in Kyiv as part of its ongoing war of aggression.
Mr Biden who opened the three day summit in the Bavarian Alps Sunday said Western cooperation was necessary to effectively punish Russia for its impunity in Ukraine through multilateral sanctions and also providing the much needed military aid to booster Ukrainian defensive positions.
The Group of
Seven leaders were set to announce new bans on imports of Russian gold in a bid
to isolate Russia economically. The group of leading democracies is also
looking at possible price caps on energy to limit Russian oil and gas profits
and hence reduce its ability to continue to fund the war.
Mr Biden
also formally launched a global infrastructure partnership designed to counter
China’s influence in the developing world. The initiative aims to raise $600
billion with fellow G-7 countries by 2027 for global infrastructure projects
with the US contributing about $200 billion, The Associated Press quoted Biden
to have said.
On Russia’s
missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv – the capital of Ukraine,
Biden condemned the escalation by Moscow as “more of their barbarism,” and
noted that allies should be united and resolute as the impact of the war
continues to contribute to global inflation, food shortages and more.
“We have to
stay together, because Putin has been counting on, from the beginning, that
somehow NATO and the G-7 would splinter, but we haven’t and we’re not going
to,” Biden said during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who holds
the G-7′s rotating presidency and is hosting the gathering, according to The Associated
Press.
Taking jabs
at Mr Putin, G-7 leaders mocked the Russian leader one after another. Johnson
could be heard asking whether he should keep his jacket on, adding, “We all
have to show that we’re tougher than Putin,” according to The Associated Press.
Canadian Prime Minister also took aim saying, “a bare-chested horseback ride,” referring
to photos of Putin released by the Kremlin in which he appears shirtless.
Biden and
Scholz also agreed in their pre-summit meeting on the need for a negotiated end
to the Ukraine war but no details were made of the arrangement, an anonymous
source from the Biden administration told The Associated Press.
The EU has
imposed six rounds of sanctions against Russia some of which include a ban on
90% of Russian crude oil imports by the end of the year.
The move by
the G-7 to ban Russia’s gold could have significant impact on the country’s
economy; records show that gold has been the top Russian export after energy-
reaching almost $19 billion or about 5% of global gold exports in 2020, The
Associated Press quoted the White House.