The United States and its G7 partners have warned Moscow that it could extend sanctions and use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, while Donald Trump seeks to win Vladimir Putin to his cease-fire proposal.
After a week in which Kyiv signed up for the 30 -day truce, but Moscow reported a reluctance to do so immediately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterparts obtained a certain degree of unit on Friday by eliminating a joint declaration on the possible stages against Russia.
Their press release, published after a G7 meeting in Canada, noted that foreign ministers have discussed new sanctions if the Kremlin did not fully implement cease-fire.
Asked about American sanctions, Rubio warned that Trump “did not want to do it for the moment, because he is hoping to attract people on both sides in a process where we can negotiate peace.”
He added that he was not yet clear if Russia played for time.
“The question is: we really turn to a ceasefire, or is it a delay tactic?” said the Secretary of State. “I will not answer this because I cannot characterize this for you for you.”
The G7 press release said the ministers had discussed possible measures against Moscow such as “oil prices, as an additional support for Ukraine and other means”, notably using Russian assets Frozen.
The G7 froze around 300 billion euros in the assets of the Central Bank of Russia – mainly cash obligations and government obligations – in 2022 after the large -scale invasion of Moscow Ukraine.
On Saturday, Sir Keir Starmer urges the leaders of around 25 countries in a “coalition of wills” ready to monitor any ceasefire in Ukraine while discussing how to strengthen sanctions if Putin does not accept an agreement. Downing Street confirmed that entering frozen assets in Russia was “on the table”.
He conceded that the seizure of such assets – instead of using interests that are accumulated on them to support Ukraine as it currently does – was “a complex situation”, but added: “All options are examined”.
France and Germany, which have long been opposed to a full crisis of the assets held in the EU, warm up at the idea and discuss with the United Kingdom and other ways they could be used.
“We cannot allow President Putin to play matches with President Trump’s agreement,” said Starmer, while he was preparing to organize a video call with leaders from European countries as well as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
“If Russia finally arrives at the table, we must be ready to monitor a ceasefire to ensure that it is a serious and lasting peace. If they do not, we must stretch each tendon to increase the economic pressure on Russia to ensure the end of this war. »»
The Saturday morning’s video call follows the meeting in person of the leaders of the “Coalition of the Willing” in Lancaster House in London two weeks ago.
Great Britain had hoped that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba would participate, but starmer aid said on Friday that he would not be at stake. “We are still talking about,” said a British official.
Friday, Rubio, who previously indicated that kyiv should make territorial concessions, reported that Moscow should also do so. “I have never heard President Trump say that Russia has the right to take all of Ukraine and do what they want there,” he said.
He added that Trump’s national security team will meet this weekend after President Steve Witkoff will return from Moscow to examine the Russian position.
Trump said in an article on his Truth social network that the day before discussions with Putin had been “good and productive”.
Until this week, the new administration focused on kyiv’s pressure to agree on a rapid end to war, but the doubts expressed by Putin on an immediate ceasefire attracted attention to Moscow.
“The ball is now at the Russian court with regard to Ukraine,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly, told journalists on Friday, adding that there was a “strong G7 unit” on Ukraine.
An official said that the text of the press release on Ukraine was the subject of tense struggles overnight. The United States has argued that strong language could disrupt talks with Russia and has been watered down to reach an agreement, they said.
kyiv and his allies in Great Britain and France wanted to overcome a disastrous meeting last month between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy by putting measures against Russia on the American agenda.
The government of Zelenskyy agreed with Trump’s proposal this week after the United States has suspended military assistance and information sharing with kyiv – both from Washington now says that it has resumed.
On the other hand, Putin said that he had supported a ceasefire but added that The “problems” remained which was to be discussed first.
His reluctance to support the cease-fire proposal comes as the Russian forces have made important Progress in the Kursk regionwhere Ukraine seized more than 1,000 km2 from Russia last summer.
In his social article of truth, Trump said that the Russian army had surrounded thousands of Ukrainian troops, adding that “I strongly asked President Putin that their lives be spared”.
The general staff of Ukraine denied that the Ukrainian troops had been surrounded and said that the fighting was still underway.
Putin said on Friday that Ukrainian Kursk troops are expected to go “to make Trump’s call” while Zelenskyy rejected Moscow’s position on a cease-fire as Stalling tactics.
“The devil is in detail, and they will start to offer you details to train in a dialogue, delay certain processes and postpone the end of the war,” said the Ukrainian president. He added that he hoped for a “strong reaction” from Trump to Putin’s position.
Zelenskyy also said that the question of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian forces would be “the most difficult” to be resolved.
The ceasefire and the territories “are the most difficult moments [of a negotiation]”He said. “The first is difficult because it requires courage and political will, the second because it requires difficult dialogue.”
Additional reports by Max Seddon in Berlin
