Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Get the news
Log In or Subscribe to skip
61 3 [h=6]Share This Story![/h]Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about
[h=4]Russia left in summit cold for second year running[/h]For a second year in a row, the annual summit of major economies will exclude Russia when the group's leaders convene in a castle in Germany's Bavarian region on Sunday.
{# #}
[h=4]Sent![/h]A link has been sent to your friend's email address.
[h=4]Posted![/h]A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
[h=6]Join the Nation's Conversation[/h]To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs
[h=2]UP NEXT[/h][h=2]03[/h]
More than 30,000 people on Thursday kicked off protests against a G7 summit starting at the weekend in the southern German state of Bavaria, police said.
Video provided by AFP AFP
Pedestrians walk by a sign in a shop window advertizing a special G-7 welcome discount on June 3, 2015, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in southern Germany. Germany will host the G-7 summit at Elmau Castle on June 7 and June 8.(Photo: AFP)
WASHINGTON — For a second year in a row, the annual summit of major world economies will exclude Russia when the group's leaders convene Sunday in a German castle.
The Kremlin's absence from the two-day meeting of the Group of Seven or G-7 underscores a widening East-West split prompted by the conflict in Ukraine.
A year ago, Russia was to host what was then the G-8. But the other seven members — Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and the USA — bailed to protest Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and its alleged involvement in a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin denies providing troops, arms or funds to support the separatists, who have been fighting Ukrainian troops.
This year's host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told her parliament recently that Moscow's return to the summit is "unimaginable" unless Russia were to "recognize the basic values of international law and act accordingly."
The German government reiterated that view this week. It said at a briefing in Washington that until Russia takes meaningful steps to implement a cease-fire and peace plan, suspension from the annual summit will almost certainly remain.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Thursday that his government's military is preparing for more attacks by Russian-backed separatists. Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed in clashes Wednesday. Moscow blamed Kiev for the spike in tensions.
USA TODAY
Ukraine, Russia trade barbs amid signs of new offensive
Separately, the European Union indicated Wednesday that it will extend its broad set of Ukraine-related economic sanctions against Russia in the next few weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The EU's potential move suggests the United States also would keep its sanctions in place, said Lawrence Ward, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney, a law firm that specializes in U.S. national security law and cross-border trade compliance.
Caroline Atkinson, the White House's deputy national security adviser for international economics, said Thursday that the sanctions were working and had put Russia's "economy on a completely different (downward) trajectory."
Russia has largely kept quiet about efforts by world powers to sideline its public diplomacy on the world stage.
"Russia has come to terms with its exclusion from this elite club," said James Nixey, an expert on Russia at Chatham House, the London-based think tank. "It was a slap in the face at the time, but when you get slapped it stings and then fades."
That has not stopped Russia from attempting to strike back at the West in other ways.
In late May, the Kremlin banned 89 European Union officials from entering the country, giving little apparent justification. Around the same time, Russia's parliament passed legislation to crack down on the presence of foreign organizations.
Nixey questioned whether including Russia as part of the larger G-8 group would necessarily be a constructive one.
"Russia's voice is often not helpful," he said. "It acts as a spoiler, and it's not acting positively in international affairs wherever you look right now — not just in Ukraine, but in Syria and the Middle East more broadly."
The meeting — the group's 41st — is a get-together for key international players to discuss economic, security and foreign policy issues. Topping this years agenda beyond the Ukraine conflict: the Islamic State's advances in Iraq and Syria, Greece's debt crisis and the nearly concluded talks with Iran on a nuclear deal.
There will also be discussions about how to protect the world's marine life, trade, growing public health fears over antibiotic resistance, climate change and development in Africa.
Putin's office did not return a request for comment on whether Russia is suffering from being excluded from the meeting.
Ekaterina Zabrovskaya, editor of Russia Direct, a Moscow-based website for opinion and analysis of Russian policy, said it's not a good sign for Ukraine that Russia was expelled from the G-8 because it means there are fewer opportunities for both sides to explain their positions and find some common ground. But it is not as problematic as it sounds.
"Russia has always considered the G-8 to be about prestige and more of a club," she said. "Being invited back would definitely be a victory for the Kremlin, but I don't think they are worried about rejoining ASAP."
Zabrovskaya added that the sanctions were counter-productive, not substantially harming Russia's economic elite but rather its ordinary citizens, and they fostered anti-Western, particularly anti-American, sentiment.
0) { %> 0) { %>
0) { %>
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed