G7 allies are expected to slap further sanctions on Russia as Vladimir Putin continues to resist calls for an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, Downing Street has said.
Sir Keir Starmer said the Kremlin “doesn’t hold all the cards” as he announced plans to coordinate a new package of measures designed to squeeze Moscow’s war machine.
The Prime Minister said he wanted to work with G7 partners to squeeze Russia’s energy revenues, which it uses to fund its offensive, to pressure the country’s president into engaging in peace talks.
Downing Street would not expand on what the sanctions package is likely to include but said it would aim to keep “up the pressure on Russian military industrial complex”.
A Number 10 spokesman dismissed suggestions that the limited detail about the announcement reflected divisions within the G7 on the issue of Moscow, which Donald Trump on Monday said should not have been kicked out of the group.
“I don’t agree with that characterisation at all,” the official said.
“It’s just a point of fact that the G7 has only just begun.
“The sessions are just beginning now, and it would be premature to to get ahead of what those sessions will yield.”
Sir Keir said: “The fact is Russia doesn’t hold all the cards.
“So, we should take this moment to increase economic pressure and show President Putin it is in his, and Russia’s interests, to demonstrate he is serious about peace.
“We are finalising a further sanctions package and I want to work with all of our G7 partners to squeeze Russia’s energy revenues and reduce the funds they are able to pour into their illegal war.”
UK intelligence has assessed Russia’s forces as likely having sustained approximately 1,000,000 casualties since it launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, but it continues pounding Ukraine with drone and missile attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the conference in Canada, where leaders from the world’s major economies are descending on a luxury mountain lodge in the Rockies for talks on global security.
Mr Zelensky has accepted a US-backed ceasefire proposal and offered to talk directly with his counterpart in Moscow, but the Russian leader has so far shown no willingness to meet him.
Leaders from Canada, the US, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain are also present at the summit where the war in Ukraine, along with spiralling conflict in the Middle East, is top of the agenda.
