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Top diplomats from the world’s major industrialized democracies grappled with the implications of Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s growing economic clout and aims on Taiwan, and Iran’s crackdown on antigovernment protesters as they opened two days of talks on Thursday.
Meeting in the western German city of Muenster, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations were taking stock of the situation in Ukraine more than eight months since Russia invaded the country, exacerbating food and energy shortages and creating ripple effects far from Europe.
“While we are steadfast in our support for Ukraine, we must not forget that the impacts of Russia’s aggression, interference and hostility extend across the world,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said ahead of the meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “actions are plunging the world’s poorest further into despair, putting global food security on the brink and pushing up energy prices,” he said. “These actions only serve to demonstrate Putin’s true intentions and further unite the international community against his callous plans.”
“We won’t accept that the Russian president succeeds with his strategy of … breaking Ukraine,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
The meeting in Muenster comes nearly a year after the G-7 nations – the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – banded together to warn Russia of “massive consequences” if it went ahead with plans to invade Ukraine.
Putin denied having such plans, and some nations saw the West’s repeated alerts of a Russian troops buildup near Ukraine as exaggerated at the time.
Since delivering the initial warning to Moscow – two months before the invasion was launched in late February – the G-7 nations have largely followed through with their vow to punish Russia, although sanctions have done little to deter the Kremlin.
Russia has instead escalated its attacks targeting civilian infrastructure, sent more troops, illegally annexed areas of Ukraine and shown no interest in a diplomatic solution.
