WEISSENHAUS, Germany (AP) – The Group of Seven major economies warned on Saturday that the war in Ukraine was provoking a global food and energy crisis threatening poor countries, and called for urgent measures to deplete grain stocks. There is a need that Russia is preventing from leaving Ukraine. ,
German Foreign Minister Annalena Barbock, who hosted the meeting of top G-7 diplomats, said the war had become a “global crisis”.
He said 50 million people in the coming months, especially in Africa and the Middle East, will face hunger unless ways are found to give up Ukrainian grain, which is a huge part of the worldwide supply.
In statements issued at the end of a three-day meeting on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, the G-7 pledged to provide humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable.
“Russia’s war of aggression has generated one of the most serious food and energy crises in recent history, which now threatens the most vulnerable people around the world,” the group said.
We are committed to expediting a coordinated multilateral response to preserve global food security and stand with our most vulnerable partners in this regard.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie said her country, another major agricultural exporter, was ready to ship to European ports to deliver Ukrainian grain to those in need.
“We need to make sure these grains are sent to the world,” she told reporters. “If not, millions of people will be facing famine.”
Russia rejected claims that it was responsible for worsening global hunger and driving up food prices.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “Prices are rising because of sanctions imposed by the West under pressure from the US.” “Failure to understand this is either a sign of folly or to deliberately mislead the public.”
The G-7 countries also called on China not to help Russia, including by easing international sanctions or justifying Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
He said Beijing should support Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, not “assist Russia in its war of aggression”.
The G-7 urged China to “avoid engaging in information manipulation, disinformation and other means of legitimizing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The group, which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, also reiterated its stance that territories seized by Russian forces need to be returned to Ukraine.
“We will never recognize the borders that Russia has tried to change with military aggression,” he said.
The meeting in Weisenhaus, northeast of Hamburg, is billed as an opportunity for officials to discuss geopolitics, the wider impacts of the war on energy and food security, and ongoing international efforts to combat climate change and the pandemic. had gone.
In a series of concluding statements, the G-7 nations also addressed a wide range of global problems ranging from the situation in Afghanistan to tensions in the Middle East.
On Friday, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba called for increased pressure on Russia, including providing more military aid to Kyiv and confiscating its assets abroad to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Kuleba said his country was ready to talk to Russia about reaching a political deal to halt grain supplies stuck in Ukraine’s silos and end the war, but so far “no positive response” from Moscow. ” Found it.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview published on Saturday that he had found no change in Putin’s stance recently.
Scholz, who had a lengthy phone call with the Russian leader on Friday, told German news portal T-Online that Putin failed to achieve the military objectives set at the start of the war, while adding more Russian troops than the Soviet Union. lost to His decade long campaign in Afghanistan.
“Putin should gradually begin to understand that the only way out of this situation is through an agreement with Ukraine,” Scholz said.
One idea discussed at the G-7 meeting was whether Russian state assets accumulated abroad could be used to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
“Russia is responsible for the great damage caused by this war,” Bairbock said. “And so it is a question of justice whether Russia should pay for this loss.”
But she said that, unlike Canada – where the law allows for the recapture of confiscated money – in Germany the legal basis for doing so is uncertain.
“But that’s exactly what these kinds of meetings are for, to exchange about how to resolve these legal questions,” Barbock said.
Several foreign ministers traveled directly to the informal meeting of NATO diplomats in Berlin on Saturday and Sunday.
The gathering will consider moves by Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance amid concerns about a threat from Russia, as well as ways in which NATO can support Ukraine without engaging in conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was unable to attend the G-7 meeting after recovering from a COVID-19 infection, was expected at the NATO gathering.
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