HIROSHIMA, Japan – Leaders of the world’s richest democracies agreed on Friday to stiffen sanctions against Russia, while a draft communique to be issued after their talks stressed the need to reduce their reliance on trade with China.

The Group of Seven (G-7) wealthiest economies vowed to restrict any exports to Russia that could help it in its 15-month war against Ukraine.

“This includes exports of industrial machinery, tools and other technology that Russia uses to rebuild its war machine,” the G-7 leaders said in a joint statement released on Friday, adding that they would pursue moves to restrict Russian revenues from trade in metals and diamonds.

On China, the G-7 leaders were to agree that the country’s status as the world’s second-largest economy meant there was no alternative to seeking cooperation, according to an early draft of the final communique seen by Reuters.

“Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China. We do not seek to thwart China’s economic progress and development,” said the draft, which was still subject to change.

The draft, nonetheless, went on to urge measures to “reduce excessive dependencies” in critical supply chains and counter “malign practices” in technology transfer and data disclosure.

It also reaffirmed the need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and urged China to press Russia to stop its military aggression against Ukraine.

The members of the G-7 – the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy – will use their three-day meeting to debate strategy on the conflict in Ukraine that shows no sign of easing.

Amid evidence that existing Russian sanctions were being weakened by circumvention, the G-7 is “engaging” with countries through which any restricted G-7 goods, services or technology could transit to Russia.

“We note and encourage commitments made by these countries to ensure our measures are not circumvented and have the intended effect,” the group’s leaders said, without naming any territories.

They reaffirmed their condemnation of Russia’s aggression and promised further support for Ukraine, in terms of military help and financial aid for its war-shattered economy in 2023 and 2024.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join the G-7 meeting on Sunday.

On Friday, he was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to attend an Arab League summit.

There, he urged Arab countries to back his peace initiative for ending the war.

“I invite all of you who respect peace to join the implementation of the peace formula and, thus, to reduce enmity, wars, suffering and evil,” Mr Zelensky said.

“Russia is weak. We beat it when it had more weapons in their hands. Its aggressiveness does not come from strength but from the understanding that the time of empires has passed,” he said.

The US, meanwhile, on Friday added 71 entities to a trade blacklist for supporting Russia. 

The action by its Commerce Department targets support for Russia’s military and expands the scope of export controls on Russia and Belarus. The 71 are 69 Russian entities, one from Armenia and one from Kyrgyzstan.

The new export controls target oil and gas projects in Russia and Belarus. 

The actions are part of the latest round of sanctions and export controls by the US and other countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

They are designed to degrade Russia’s industrial base and its ability to sustain the war.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG