The grouping must act swiftly and effectively against Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rightly accused Russia of war crimes after a missile strike on a crowded shopping centre in Ukraine which killed 18 people and wounded over 59. He lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “cruelty and barbarism”. In a joint statement issued on Monday, G7 leaders also remained “steadfast in our solidarity with Ukraine, and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to support the Government and people of Ukraine in their courageous defence of their country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and in their fight for a peaceful, prosperous and democratic future”. This will enthuse Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who, along with other Ukrainians, has been fighting valiantly against the much bigger and more powerful Russia. The US-led West’s support for the besieged eastern European nation has been admirable; so also is the way they weaponised their financial dominance and used it against Moscow. Besides, their support to Ukraine by way of arming it with the latest arms and armaments is praiseworthy. The same, however, cannot be said about its effectiveness. Despite months of debilitating sanctions against Russia, its war machine is still buzzing. After over a century, Russia has defaulted over a $100-million payment — not because it doesn’t have money but because it is not allowed to pay its creditors. The default is likely to hurt the creditors rather than Moscow; it won’t surely hurt Putin enough to force him to call off the war.
G7 leaders are deploying other means to augment pressure on the Kremlin. They have agreed to study placing global price caps on imports of Russian energy to curb Moscow’s ability to fund its invasion of Ukraine and to contribute up to $5 billion to address global food insecurity, according to a Reuters report. However, they cannot be absolved of their role, though indirect, of enriching and thus emboldening Putin to such an extent that he could dare to attack Ukraine. Rich nations, swayed by the rhetoric of climate activists, became so obsessed with checking the use of fossil fuels that they discouraged production in their own jurisdictions. Under US President Joe Biden, for instance, the US has become a net energy importer, though his predecessor Donald Trump had ensured energy independence. This happened because Biden’s Democratic Party has increasingly been influenced by the radical Left. Last year, Biden had also allowed Russia to sell oil to Europe. This is not to say that concerns about the environment should be ignored, but the action should be calibrated, not rash. Developed nations didn’t realise that though climate change can end the world in a century, a nuclear war can do that in a day. Yes, that’s a possibility! Frustrated that a small nation is not surrendering, Putin may decide to escalate his war. That may have calamitous consequences, not just for Ukraine and Europe but the entire world. G7 must ensure that its actions against Russia are not just effective but also non-escalatory.
