Ukraine war: G7 to phase out all Russian oil imports

The new round of sanctions comes amid fears Vladimir Putin will mark May 9 with a drastic escalation of the Ukraine invasion.

Vladimir Putin gives a speech in Saint Petersburg. Picture: AFP.

The US and G7 allies have unveiled another round of sanctions on Russia a day before president Vladimir Putin is due to give a speech to mark the end of World War II, which some experts fear will foreshadow a drastic escalation of Russia’s push to conquer eastern Ukraine.

At a special, virtual meeting of G7 leaders that included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the world’s most elite economic bloc promised to phase out all imports of Russian oil and ban exports of professional services to Russia, including by the ‘big four’ accounting firms, which have over 10,000 employees in Russia.

“We will ensure that we [phase out oil] in a timely and orderly fashion, and in ways that provide time for the world to secure alternative supplies,” the G7 leaders said in a statement released on Sunday morning in Washington (Monday AEST).

The G7, which includes Germany and Italy, both heavily dependent on Russian energy, said it will also stop businesses from advertising on Russia’s three largest TV networks (worth over US$300m last year), and extend the list of sanctioned Russian elites by 2,600, including executives at Gazprom bank, which facilitates energy trade between Russia and Europe.

“Respectable private companies should not provide revenue to the Russian regime or to its affiliates feeding the Russian war machine,” the statement said.

Analysts have speculated Mr Putin will use the annual 9th May Victory Day military parade in Moscow to announce a further mobilisation of Russia’s military forces, or formally relabel what Moscow has called a “special military operation” in Ukraine to war.

CIA director William Burns, speaking on Saturday at a conference in Washington, said he feared Vladimir Putin would “double down” to ensure at least a military stalemate in Ukraine that he could sell as a victory back home, because “he doesn’t believe he can afford to lose”.

A senior US official told reporters on Sunday the unprecedented and escalating series of sanctions imposed on Russia had caused cessation of manufacturing at two Russian tank plants and driven 1,000 private companies, and reportedly more than 200,000 Russians, out of Russia.

“Today’s actions are a continuation of the systematic and methodical removal of Russia from the global financial and economic system,” he said. “We don’t think Russia has many options other than to try to produce these goods or services domestically, which I think would be a very tall task”.

Both US First lady Jill Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, a G7 leaders, made unplanned visits to Ukraine over the weekend, reflecting growing confidence among western allies Ukraine had secured the west of its territory.

Approaching its 12th week Russia’s invasion, which has refocused on the eastern, Donbas part of the country after failing to capture Kyiv, has floundered, failing to capture any major cities after losing around 25,000 soldiers since it invaded on February 24th.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in an address to the German nation on Sunday night (Monday AEST), said he was “deeply convinced Putin would not win the war”.

“Ukraine, Ukrainian will prevail. Freedom and safety will win, just like freedom and safety triumphed over servitude, violence and dictatorship 77 years ago,” Mr Scholz, who had been criticised earlier for resisting tougher measures against its number one energy supplier, Russia.

President Joe Biden, who announced an extra $150m in military aid for Ukraine on Friday, bringing total military aid from the US since the war began to US$3.8bn, is awaiting Congress to approve an additional US$33bn for a mix of economic, humanitarian and military relief for Kyiv.

“Congress should quickly provide the requested funding to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table,” Mr Biden said in a statement on Friday.

The president, who toured a Lockheed Martin factory in Alabama last week, said Ukrainians were so grateful for US military assistance they were naming their children “Javelin” or “Javelina” after the names of the Lockheed-made missile, some 5,000 of which had been sent to Ukraine by the US.

G7 nations, which together have provided or pledged US$24bn in aid to Ukraine this year, said they supported Mr Zelensky in his aim to “to ensure full withdrawal of Russia’s military forces and equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine”.

“Vladimir Putin’s actions bring shame on Russia and the historic sacrifices of its people,” G7 leaders said.

In Washington confidence is growing across both sides of political divide that the US and allies can see Ukraine triumph over Russia, following by unsourced comments by intelligence officials that the US had helped Ukraine kill Russian generals.

High profile Republican senator Lindsay Graham on Sunday pushed for Russia to be labelled officially a “state sponsor of terrorism”, a move the White House has resisted. “If Putin wins Taiwan is probably going to be invaded by China,” the senator said, urging the US to fight by proxy until Putin was removed as Russian leader.

“There is no off ramp in this war, someone is going to win and someone is going to lose”.