Brussels, 05/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 5 June, the G7 leaders called on Russia to take steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, threatening new sanctions, if necessary. In a statement issued after the summit, the G7 says the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and action to destabilise eastern Ukraine are unacceptable and must cease. The G7 called on Russia to withdraw all its military forces from the border with Ukraine, to end the cross-border flow of arms and soldiers and to exercise its influence on armed separatists to get them to lay down their arms and renounce violence. The G7 called on illegal armed groups to lay down their arms and for the Russian Federation to respect the pledges it made in the joint Geneva statement and to cooperate with the government of Ukraine to implement its plans to promote peace, unity and reform.
The G7 leaders urged Moscow to recognise the results of the 25 May presidential election in Ukraine, won by Petro Porochenko. The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said Russia should recognise and fully engage with the Ukrainian authorities, in other words the newly elected president Porochenko. The British prime minister, David Cameron, said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, should recognise Porochenko's legitimacy. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that the fact that a Russian representative will attend the signing in of the new Ukrainian president on 7 June demonstrated “a type of recognition”. Porochenko and Putin will both be attending a ceremony in France on 6 June to mark the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944. The French president, Francois Hollande, said that 6 June would be a commemoration of war that could also preserve peace for today and into the future. Putin will meet Merkel, Holland and Cameron in separate meetings.
The president of the United States, Barack Obama, said that, if Putin takes new positive measures, it might be possible to start to rebuild trust, but otherwise it is possible that other types of sanctions will be issued. He suggested a timeframe of three to four weeks. Obama said: “If Russia's provocation continues, the G7 nations are ready to impose additional costs”. Merkel said the G7 had confirmed its decision to issue sanctions against people and bodies that are actively supporting or carrying out the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and are threatening peace, security and stability. She said this was not a threat and the G7 was seeking negotiated solutions.
G7 welcomes Ukraine's elections and says it will continue to support the country
The G7 welcomed the successful organisation of elections in Ukraine in difficult circumstances, elections that the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, described as free and fair. The G7 said that the high turnout had stressed Ukrainian citizens' desire to decide on the future of their country, and welcomed the fact that Porochenko had addressed the country's entire population.
The G7 welcomed the Ukrainian government's aim of pursuing open national dialogue and the Memorandum for Peace and Unity that was adopted by the country's parliament on 20 May, hoping for rapid implementation. They encouraged Kiev to continue down the path of constitutional reform and to keep its promise to carry out the tough reforms needed for the country's economic security and to allow private sector-given growth.
The G7 promised to continue working with Ukraine to support its economic development, sovereignty and territorial integrity, saying it favoured the introduction of an international donor coordination mechanism to ensure the effective supply of economic aid. The G7 welcomed the EU's plan to hold a high-level donor meeting.
The leaders urged the Ukrainian authorities to display a measured attitude in carrying out the restoration of public order. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev immediately criticised the term “moderate”. “The so-called G7 talks about measured action by the Ukrainian army against its own people. This is massive cynicism”, he told the Russian cabinet, highlighting the flood of refugees into the regions of Russia that border on Ukraine. Van Rompuy said that the G7 continued to believe that the Ukrainian government and president have the constitutional right to restore order and that they are doing it in a manner that can be described as moderate, adding that the EU has called for investigations into serious incidents. (CG along with AN, MB, EH and EL)