As Vladimir Putin prepares to celebrate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany with great fanfare on Monday, his actions in Ukraine "cover Russia and the historic sacrifices of its people with shame", indignant the Sunday G7 countries in a joint communiqué.
In a virtual meeting attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Heads of State and Government of Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan, and of the United Kingdom "repeated (their) commitment to take further steps to help Ukraine secure a free and democratic future" as well as to "defend and repel future acts of aggression", according to the text published at the end of the meeting.
In parallel, the G7 “committed today to ban or phase out imports of Russian oil,” the White House announced.
This decision "will deal a blow to the main artery irrigating the economy of (Vladimir) Putin and deprive him of the income he needs to finance his war" against Ukraine, says the American executive.
New US Sanctions
The G7 held its third meeting of the year by videoconference on Sunday, with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The choice of date is highly symbolic: Europeans commemorate the end of the Second World War in Europe on May 8.
This Sunday meeting is also held on the eve of the May 9 military parade in Russia, which marks the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.
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Washington also announced in a White House statement on Sunday a new salvo of sanctions against Russia, around two major axes: the media, and the access of Russian companies and large fortunes to consulting and accounting services, including the Americans and the British are the world's leading specialists.
The country also implemented new bans on the export of American products to Russia, on a whole range of capital goods ranging from bulldozers to ventilation systems to boilers, as well as visa restrictions to 2 600 Russian and Belarusian personalities, and sanctions against officials of Sberbank and Gazprombank.