G7 Foreign Ministers Issue Stern Warning to Iran Over Arming Russia in War on Ukraine
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Leading diplomatic representatives from the G7 nations issued a stern warning to Iran against providing drones and further military support to Russia in its war in Ukraine, as Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities face a worsening energy crisis, as was reported by the Wall Street Journal. From a military perspective, Russia has switched tactics in order to target civilian infrastructure.
The Group of Seven warning came at the conclusion of a two day meeting in the historic western German city of Muenster. It was there that international officials discussed the Russian war on Ukraine as well the relationship of the Western world toward China, the WSJ reported. Due to the repercussions of the aggressive Russian military posture towards Ukraine and how this may directly impact the rest of Europe, the G7 officials also warned that further measures would be taken against Russia and other countries that are providing assistance to them in their onslaught in Ukraine, the report said.
The WSJ also reported that in a statement issued on Friday, the G7 said, “We will continue to impose economic costs in Russia and on other countries, individuals or entities providing military support for Moscow’s war of aggression, as several of us have already done regarding Iran’s provision of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Russia,”
The U.S. and its G-7 allies pledged to continue supporting Ukraine economically and militarily and introduced a new system to help Ukraine “repair, restore and defend its critical energy and water infrastructure,” the WSJ reported.
The G7 two days of talks in Muenster recalled the significance of the venue, according to an AP report on Thursday. The meeting took place in the same room in which the Treaty of Westphalia ending Europe’s bloody 30 Years War was signed in 1648 and its significance, the AP reported, was not lost on the participants as some of whom commented on the relevance of the principles it enshrined in international diplomacy.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken made reference to the 374-year-old document at an event with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, saying Russia’s actions in Ukraine are a direct attack on the concepts of national sovereignty and territorial integrity that many believe the treaty established, the AP reported.
“These are the very principles that are being challenged today by Russia,” Blinken said. “If we let that be challenged with impunity, then the foundations of the international order will start to erode and eventually crumble, and none of us can afford to let that happen.”
Baerbock opened G-7 meeting at Muenster City Hall by saying the values hashed out in 1648 were the same as those under threat today: “peace and the rule of law,” the AP reported.
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,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, according to the AP report. “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,” Baerbock said.
The AP also reported that the meeting in Muenster comes nearly a year after the same 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 troop buildup near Ukraine as exaggerated at the time, according to the AP report.
Since delivering the initial warning to Moscow — two months before Russia’s invasion was launched in late February — the G-7 has largely followed through with their vow to punish Russia, although sanctions have done little to deter the Kremlin amid soaring energy prices.
Russia has instead escalated its attacks on civilians and infrastructure, sent in more troops, illegally annexed four regions in Ukraine and shown no interest in a diplomatic solution, the AP reported. A senior U.S. official traveling with Blinken said Putin had “doubled down” and, in some cases, “tripled down” on his position.
