Just days before a meeting of the leaders of the world’s largest economies, at which the subject of sanctions on Russia is likely to be a major agenda item, Ukraine’s President warned that his military is preparing for “all-out war” with its neighbor to the east, and NATO’s top official blasted the Kremlin for its continued interference in Ukraine’s civil war.
President Obama is expected to press European leaders to extend sanctions against Moscow when they come up for a vote in the European Union later this summer. But it’s not clear the G7 members as a group have the collective will to make life tougher for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Related: Putin Threatens Fight Over More Ukraine-Related Sanctions
The meeting of the G7 will take place in Germany on Sunday, just days after the heaviest fighting in months broke out in the Ukraine’s Donbas region. Ukrainian officials claimed that one of their positions west of the rebel-held city of Donetsk was attacked by tanks and up to 1,000 rebel soldiers. The rebels, for their part, claimed that they were responding to provocations by the Ukrainian troops.
The result was much handwringing about the fragility of the ceasefire and a stark warning from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that his government is worried about a full-scale Russian invasion.
In a speech to the parliament in Kiev on Thursday, Poroshenko said: “The military must be ready as much for a renewal of an offensive by the enemy in the Donbas as they are for a full-scale invasion along the whole length of the border with Russia. We must be truly ready for this.”
Also on Thursday, speaking in Oslo, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg flatly accused Russia of lying when it denied involvement in the conflict in the Donbas.
Related: Shh!!! Putin Bans Talking About Dead Russian Troops in Ukraine
“We have precise information that Russia is present in eastern Ukraine and that it has delivered large quantities of heavy, advanced weapons to the separatists,” he told reporters. “Artillery, anti-aircraft systems, advanced weapons systems. They have supplied more than 1,000 units of this kind to the separatists.”
The increased tension in the region sets the stage for some drama at the meeting of the G7, which is among the most exclusive clubs in the world. Until last year, the group was known as the G-8. But the other members essentially kicked out after Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and began backing pro-Russia separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
The group includes the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Japan, as well as a representative of the European Union, the majority of which have been actively participating in efforts to economically isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine. Given the ramped-up fighting in the region this week, there have been calls for additional sanctions, but going into the weekend, it’s unclear that key members of the group have the appetite for further action against Moscow.
Related: A Bizarre Tale of Russia Concealing Its Soldiers’ Deaths in Ukraine
Whether the G7 will do much more than offer words of condemnation over Russia’s continued involvement in Ukraine is an open question. But cracks in the formerly united front are beginning to appear.
The group’s chair for 2015 is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been a relatively strong voice in condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine. But Germany’s resolve was called into question when Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier – a member not of Merkel’s Conservative Party but of the Social Democrats – said that the G7 eventually needs to expand back to eight members, including Russia.
“I believe that we cannot have an interest in keeping the G7 format a G7 format in the long term,” he told reporters. “A look at the world shows that we need Russia as a constructive partner in a number of conflicts.”
That stance is in stark contrast to that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Related: Putin Isn’t Reviving the USSR; He’s Creating a Fascist State
“I don't think Russia under Vladimir Putin belongs in the G7. Period,” Harper said on Thursday “Canada would very, very strongly oppose Putin ever sitting around that table again. It would require consensus to bring Russia back, and that consensus will just not happen.”
But because the group operates on the very consensus that Harper spoke of, it remains unclear that there will be any consensus on further action against Russia, either.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
