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LIVERPOOL, England , Dec 12 (AP) \u2014 The Group of Seven economic powers told Russia on Sunday to \u201cde-escalate\u201d its military buildup near the Ukrainian border, warning that an invasion would have \u201cmassive consequences\u201d and inflict severe economic pain on Moscow.<\/p>\n
G-7 foreign ministers, joined by the European Union\u2019s foreign affairs chief, issued a joint statement declaring themselves \u201cunited in our condemnation of Russia\u2019s military buildup and aggressive rhetoric towards Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The G-7 called on Russia to \u201cde-escalate, pursue diplomatic channels, and abide by its international commitments on transparency of military activities,\u201d and praised Ukraine\u2019s \u201crestraint.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny use of force to change borders is strictly prohibited under international law. Russia should be in no doubt that further military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and severe cost in response,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s movement of weapons and troops to the border region dominated weekend talks among foreign ministers from the G-7 wealthy democracies in the English city of Liverpool.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and it allies worry that the buildup could be precursor to an invasion, and have vowed to inflict heavy sanctions on Russia\u2019s economy if that happens.<\/p>\n
Moscow denies having any plans to attack Ukraine and accuses Kyiv of its own allegedly aggressive designs.<\/p>\n
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the conference host, said the G-7 was sending a \u201cpowerful signal to our adversaries and our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement promised a \u201ccommon and comprehensive response\u201d but contained no details. Truss said the G-7 was \u201cconsidering all options\u201d when it came to economic sanctions.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and its allies have played down talk of a military response to defend Ukraine, with efforts focusing on tough sanctions that would hit the Russian economy, rather than just individuals.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., reporters asked President Joe Biden on Saturday about the possibility of sending combat troops to Ukraine, and he said that idea was never considered. \u201cAre you ready to send American troops into war and go into Ukraine to fight Russians on the battlefield?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Biden, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, said he had made clear that in the event of an invasion, \u201cthe economic consequences for his economy are going to be devastating. Devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Truss said Biden had made clear to Putin that the U.S. stance \u201ccarries the support of the G-7 countries as a whole. And that should be very concerning for Vladimir Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n
China\u2019s muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region and the ailing Iran nuclear deal were also on the agenda for the meeting of top diplomats from the U.K., the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan at the dockside Museum of Liverpool.<\/p>\n
Getting a unified response to global crises from the G-7, a group of countries with disparate interests, has often proved tough.<\/p>\n
Germany plans on getting gas from Russia soon through the contentious Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine. Britain, which isn\u2019t dependent on Russian gas, generally takes a tougher line on the pipeline \u2014 but faces tricky questions about London\u2019s financial district and property market, both hubs for Russian money.<\/p>\n
U.K. bank and financial authorities have long been criticized for allegedly turning a blind eye to ill-gotten gains.<\/p>\n
Truss insisted Britain has \u201cvery strong anti-corruption and anti-money laundering rules,\u201d but also suggested that Russian money and Russian gas came at a high price.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot have short term economic gain at the expense of our long term freedom and democracy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
G-7 nations are also increasingly concerned about China\u2019s growing economic and technological dominance, especially in developing countries. The G-7 has launched a \u201cBuild Back Better World\u201d initiative to offer developing nations funding for big infrastructure projects as an alternative to money from China that, the West argues, often comes with strings attached.<\/p>\n
Truss, who also invited ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to the Liverpool meeting, said the G-7 was \u201cconcerned about the coercive economic policies of China.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve set out is a positive agenda about making sure that countries have alternative sources of investment, alternative sources of trade,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that we\u2019re making sure that we abide by \u2014 and ensure others are abiding by \u2014 the rules based international system\u201d for trade.<\/p>\n
A unified stance towards China continues to prove elusive, however, with the U.S. and Britain generally more hawkish than other G-7 members.<\/p>\n
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LIVERPOOL, England , Dec 12 (AP) \u2014 The Group of Seven economic powers told Russia on Sunday to \u201cde-escalate\u201d its military buildup near the Ukrainian border, warning that an invasion would have \u201cmassive consequences\u201d and inflict severe economic pain on Moscow. G-7 foreign ministers, joined by the European Union\u2019s foreign affairs chief, issued a joint […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-179136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}