AA/Berlin
The Group of Seven most industrialized countries (G7) on Saturday urged Russia to withdraw its forces from the Ukrainian border and to use diplomatic means to resolve the crisis.
This emerges from a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, after their meeting in Munich, southern Germany, as part of the Munich Security Conference 2022.
“Russia must reduce tensions and fulfill its obligations,” the statement said.
“As a first step, we expect Russia to proceed with the reduction of its military activities along the borders with Ukraine,” the G7 foreign ministers said, adding that “for now, there is no sign of de-escalation from Russia’s side.”
The ministers underlined in this sense that “any possible aggression against Ukraine would have severe consequences, namely economic and financial sanctions which would “bear a severe cost” to the Russian economy.
In the same context, the G7 said it was “deeply concerned by the violations of the ceasefire, the use of heavy weapons and the bombardment of inhabited areas in recent days in eastern Ukraine”.
“We fear that such incidents could be used as a pretext for carrying out military attacks. Russia should use its influence on the self-declared republics to exercise restraint,” the statement continued.
Earlier in the day on Saturday, pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk declared general mobilization amid escalating tensions in the Donbass region.
The general mobilization comes as a massive and centralized departure of women, children and the elderly is organized for Russia, from the territories under the control of the separatists in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Westerners accuse Moscow of wanting to invade Ukraine, pointing to the 120,000 Russian soldiers mobilized for weeks on the border of the former Soviet republic, as well as the deployment of tanks and artillery.
Moscow denies such an intention and assures that this military deployment is a reaction against NATO’s “threatening” posture on its borders.
*Translated from Arabic by Hajer Cherni
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