G7 moves to take further economic measures against Russia

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – The Group of Seven announced Friday its member countries have committed to take further measures in a series of actions against Russian economy as soon as possible amid the war in Ukraine.

The first action includes denying Russia the most-favored-nation status relating to key products.

"This will revoke important benefits of Russia's membership of the World Trade Organization and ensure that the products of Russian companies no longer receive Most-Favoured-Nation treatment in our economies," the G7 said in a statement.

The second action is to prevent Russia from obtaining financing from multilateral financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

"Russia cannot grossly violate international law and expect to benefit from being part of the international economic order ... We also welcome the steps the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) has taken to restrict Russia's participation in relevant bodies," it said.

The third action is about continuing pressure against Russian elites, proxies and oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, as well as their families and their enablers.

"We commend the work done by many of our governments to identify and freeze mobile and immobile assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and entities, and resolve to continue this campaign of pressure as a matter of priority," the statement said.

The fourth action aims to ensure that the Russian state and elites, proxies and oligarchs cannot use digital assets as a means to evade international sanctions.

While the fifth action wants to fight off the Russian regime's attempts to spread disinformation, the sixth one makes the G7 countries ready to impose further restrictions on exports and imports of key goods and technologies of Russia in order to deny it revenues.

"Seventh, Russian entities directly or indirectly supporting the war should not have access to new debt and equity investments and other forms of international capital," the G7 said.

"We will continue working together to develop and implement measures that will further limit Russia's ability to raise money internationally," it added.

The G7 is an organization made up of the world's seven largest advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US.