US, G7 Vow Sanctions on Russian Central Bank, as Invasion of Ukraine Called ‘Imminent’
Former President George W. Bush and former President Barack Obama, both in attendance, voiced solidarity with a Ukraine that could face an invasion within days.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, of Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, center, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, are surrounded by Ukrainian, Hungarian and Slovakian counterparts as they gather for a photograph in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
– A cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.
– That Russia was not expelling Ukrainian citizens and foundations, despite announcing that it was.
– Sanctions imposition on several influential Russian figures, including the former gover-nor of Chechnya; a Russian vice prime minister who is close to President Vladimir Putin; and a ally of Mr. Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose private military contractors have been active in Syria and Libya.
– Some of Mr. Putin’s closest business associates.
– A ban on exports of advanced technology used in the defense and aviation sectors, as well as in civilian nuclear projects and space.
The Kremlin confirmed publicly on Monday that talks had resumed between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany over a sea of political, military and economic quagmires left by years of armed conflict between Ukrainian forces and separatists backed by Moscow.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, announced the restarting of negotiations after a daylong meeting in Paris with Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart. But Mr. Le Drian, who is hosting his counterparts from the United States, Britain, Germany and Italy in a similar conference in the French port city of Rennes on Tuesday and Wednesday, put no timeframe on the discussions and spoke of the “difficult path” toward saving the deal stillborn since 2015.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, at a meeting with his British and Ukrainian counterparts in Rennes, France, on Tuesday.
An American official, in the meantime, predicted on Monday that the French would fail to extract from the Kremlin any serious commitments at the negotiations that begin on Tuesday.
“We’re not expecting breakthroughs or major concessions from Russians,” the official said.
Russia has been piling up troops for more than year along its border with Ukraine, which borders both Russia and the European Union. The nation’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said in a recent interview that Moscow’s concerns were “absolutely legitimate” and that the West should make an effort to deny Ukrainian forces any NATO-backed “provocations” and to prevent any reversal of efforts to end the conflict.
The top American diplomat, Antony Blinken, held discussions in Brussels recently with NATO and European officials on how to shore up Ukraine against the Russian threat. And President Biden made clear last week in a call to Mr. Putin that any invasion would be costly to the Kremlin in economic sanctions, covert operations and significant military aid to the Ukrainians, senior administration officials said.
At the Rennes gathering, Mr. Blinken will be joined by his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Ukraine, while foreign ministers of the G7 nations ( Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States) are also meeting with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts and other officials.
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