Russia accuses G7 of making decisions against Moscow and Beijing

The Russian government accused the leaders of the group of seven most industrialized countries (G7) meeting in Japan this Saturday of making decisions with the dual purpose of containing Russia and China.

“Look at the decisions that are being discussed and adopted this Saturday in Hiroshima at the G7 summit and which are aimed at the double deterrence of Russia and China,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The official TASS news agency reported that Lavrov’s reaction was made during a meeting of Russia’s Foreign and Defense Policy Council.

The leaders of the group, made up of Germany, Canada, the US, France, Italy, Japan and the UK, as well as the European Union (EU), meet in the Japanese city of Hiroshima over the weekend.

The G7 has already approved increased sanctions against Russian interests to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war it has been waging against Ukraine since the February 24, 2022 invasion of the neighboring country.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Hiroshima today to attend the summit and hold bilateral meetings with G7 members and other invited countries.

Zelensky has already met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has never condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and maintains close ties to Moscow.

The G7 leaders also criticized the use of “economic coercion” as a political weapon, alluding to China and Beijing’s policy on Taiwan and the South China Sea.

They also argued for the need to reduce the Asian giant’s “overdependence” in economic terms.

In a statement released by TASS, Lavrov said that the western path of Russian foreign policy “has completely exhausted itself.”

Russia has entered “a phase of sharp confrontation with an aggressive bloc composed of the United States, the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance.” [NATO]”, he decided.

Lavrov said the mission of Moscow’s adversaries was set “loud and clear” and aimed at “defeating Russia on the battlefield” as well as “eliminating it as a geopolitical competitor.”

“In fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the global layout will also be crushed as a competitor,” he said, referring to China.

Lavrov also said, without specifying, that Western experts are already “openly discussing” the development of scenarios for the collapse of the Russian Federation.

“It is not hidden that the existence of Russia as an independent center is incompatible with the implementation by the West of the goal of global domination,” he added, TASS reports.

Russia’s war against Ukraine plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious crisis since World War II (1939-1945).

The number of civilian and military casualties in the conflict is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have acknowledged that it will be very high.