US warns Russia to back off Ukraine

The US has urged Russia to pull back from the brink over Ukraine, warning that the G7 and its allies will impose tough measures if it abandons diplomacy.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss greets European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell at the G7 foreign ministers summit in Liverpool. Picture: AFP

The US has urged Russia to pull back from the brink over Ukraine, warning that the G7 and its allies will impose tough measures if it abandons diplomacy.

A senior State Department official said at a meeting of the grouping’s top diplomats in Liverpool, England, that Moscow still had time to change course.

“But if they choose not to pursue that path, there will be massive consequences and severe costs in response, and the G7 is absolutely united in that,” the ­official said.

“A large number of democratic countries will join us in ­imposing costs.”

The warning came as Russian sabre-rattling against Ukraine and how to counter an increasingly assertive China dominated the two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers at the weekend.

The meeting – at which ministers want to present a united front against authoritarianism – is the last in-person gathering of Britain’s year-long G7 presidency, before it hands the baton to Germany.

Opening the talks on Saturday, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told delegates: “We need to come together strongly to stand up to aggressors who are seeking to limit the bounds of freedom and democracy.

“To do this, we need to have a fully united voice. We need to ­expand our economic and security posture around the world.”

Ms Truss set out her foreign policy vision in a major address last Wednesday, echoing US threats of unprecedented sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.

Western concerns are growing over a Russian troop build-up on the border that the Kremlin says is defensive against any move by the former Soviet state eastwards towards NATO.

G7 ministers want to show the grouping can move beyond condemnation to robustly defend its values as a deterrent to future threats.

The meeting comes after US President Joe Biden held a ­virtual summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to try to end the stand-off diplomatically.

Washington’s top diplomat for Europe and Eurasian affairs, Karen Donfried, flies to Kiev and Moscow this week for follow-up talks with senior government ­officials.

She will then head to Brussels for further talks with NATO and EU allies.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken flies on to Southeast Asia on a visit designed to highlight the region’s importance in Washington’s push for “peace, security and prosperity” in the Indo-Pacific against China.

Britain’s G7 presidency has been dominated by responding to Beijing’s alleged widespread domestic rights abuses, as well as creeping authoritarianism in its former colony, Hong Kong.

Last week, a panel of human rights lawyers and experts in London found China had committed genocide by imposing population restrictions, including birth control and forced sterilisations, on its Muslim minority Uighurs.

China rejected the tribunal’s findings.

Ms Biden has pushed the G7 for a stronger collective stand ­towards Russia and China, and last week saw Washington, London and Canberra announce diplomatic boycotts of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics.

In Liverpool, delegates want to end the “strategic dependence” of a growing number of low- and middle-income countries on the G7’s adversaries, in various areas from energy to technology.

Guests are being pushed to provide those countries with more finance for infrastructure and technology projects, according to the foreign office.

Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were to join the G7 summit for the first time on Sunday, in a session earmarked for wide-ranging talks on issues ­including Covid-19 vaccines, ­finance and gender equality.

Australia, South Korea, South Africa and India will also participate as Britain’s chosen G7 “guests”, with many guests taking part virtually due to the pandemic and emergence of the Omicron variant.

AFP