G-7 Ministers urge Russia to accept equal ceasefire terms

"We called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully," the G-7 officials said in a joint statement adopted at their two-day meeting from Thursday in Charlevoix, eastern Canada.

They confirmed their unity to realize peace in Ukraine, although their countries showed disparities after US President Donald Trump took office with his "America First" policy in January.

In the statement, the ministers also said, "We welcomed ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire," especially Tuesday's meeting between US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.

"We applauded Ukraine's commitment" to the immediate ceasefire proposed by the United States, the ministers said.

The G-7 also "reaffirmed our unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to exist, and its freedom, sovereignty and independence."

"We emphasized that any ceasefire must be respected and underscored the need for robust and credible security arrangements to ensure that Ukraine can deter and defend against any renewed acts of aggression," the statement added.

The ministers said they discussed "imposing further costs on Russia" if Moscow rejects such a ceasefire, warning Russia to accept the proposed temporary ceasefire.

After the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that "we felt really good about the statement."

The ball is now in Russia's court, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.

The G-7 statement also referred to Taiwan. "We emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

The ministers reiterated their opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, with China in mind.

"We also expressed support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in appropriate international organizations," the statement added.

Regarding North Korea, the ministers urged the country to abandon its nuclear and missile development programs and resolve the issue of abductions of Japanese and other foreign nationals.

In February, the G-7 leaders held a teleconference on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But they failed to adopt a statement due to differences between the United States and Europe.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Friday, "It was a very meaningful G-7 foreign ministers' meeting," as they showed a unified stance this time.

Separately, the G-7 ministers issued a declaration to enhance maritime security, announcing a plan to set up a task force to address Russian attempts to evade sanctions and export oil by using a "shadow fleet" of ships that are harder to track due to disabled or disguised location data.

The G-7 nations will work with eight Northern Europe and Baltic countries to strengthen monitoring. The declaration criticized North Korea for violating UN Security Council sanctions resolutions by acquiring oil through ship-to-ship transfers at sea.

It stressed that the G-7 nations will promote crackdowns in cooperation with other countries.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

Photo by Reuters