Rough seas became a fitting symbol for this week's G7 foreign ministers' meeting on the Italian island of Capri. A Coast Guard ship ferrying dignitaries to the island across the Bay of Naples rocked unsteadily on Wednesday, leaving passengers reaching for motion sickness medication and, in some cases, hospital bags.
No member of this elite United Nations cabinet is known to have missed lunch, including Secretary of State Antony J. It was enough to make me uneasy. The nightmare of Gaza and the uncertain fate of Ukraine.
At the luxurious Grand Hotel Quisiana, Mr. Blinken vowed to project unity within the group, which includes the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union.
Originally created to help stabilize the global economy, the G7 has become more active and ambitious in recent years, shaping geopolitics and, as Blinken said in the closing news, “the world's most It aims to become the “steering committee of an advanced democratic country.” Friday conference.
Blinken did not say so, but said the group had worked over three days to “de-escalate tensions and de-escalate potential conflict.” The meeting will also include talks on the Gaza Strip, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 33,000 people since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and the Red Sea, where Yemen's Houthi militia have attacked cargo ships. It was.
The G7 threatened to step up Western crackdowns on Iran, calling in its closing communiqué for “Iran and its affiliates to cease attacks” across the Middle East, saying: “We stand ready to impose further sanctions and other measures.” Ta.
Regarding Iran, Blinken told reporters that “degrading its missile and drone capabilities” is a key goal of the G7. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, also said joint action was being prepared against unnamed Iranian commercial entities.
The group also mentioned the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, but was unsure whether progress had been made toward a ceasefire agreement aimed at freeing Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. It's unknown. The G7 made this call in its communiqué. U.S. officials said the group was grappling in part with the practical limitations of bringing aid into the Palestinian territories and then distributing it across the devastated enclave of Gaza.
Ukraine was another centerpiece of the agenda, with ministers vowing to find new ways to help in the fight against Russia. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attended the rally to make his case directly, effectively imploring members of the U.S. House of Representatives to serve his country.
Kuleba told reporters Thursday that the aid Congress is considering “will literally, without exaggeration, help save the Ukrainian people from a massacre by Russian missiles.” He added: “This is a matter of life and death for thousands of people.”
He also said his country needs more equipment, like Patriot missile batteries, to protect its people and energy grid from Russian attack.
Blinken arrived at the meeting with Kuleba on Thursday morning with a list of specific weapons systems and countries the U.S. expects to deploy to Ukraine soon, another U.S. official said. . Mr. Kleba countered with his own wish list. The first US official said that G7 countries would most likely provide additional air defense systems to Ukraine in the near future.
Blinken made the most powerful public statement yet by a U.S. official that Russian sovereign assets frozen in Western accounts after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine would eventually be used to fund Ukraine's rebuilding. provided suggestions. The United States supports the measure, but European countries are concerned about legal hurdles.
“The Kremlin calls this theft,” Blinken said. “The real theft is that Ukrainian lives have been taken, much of Ukraine's infrastructure has been destroyed, and much of its land has been seized.”
“It is extremely important that these Russian sovereign assets can be used to rebuild Ukraine,” he added. “It’s also something that will happen someday, in some form.”
“We will continue to explore all possible avenues to assist Ukraine in obtaining reparations from Russia, in accordance with our respective legal systems and international law,” the G7 said in a statement Friday.
Blinken also said that although Beijing had stopped short of supplying arms to Moscow, other countries were losing patience with China's role in propping up Russia's economy and military production, which Western countries have imposed harsh sanctions on. He also said.
Blinken said: “Even if China claims on the one hand that it wants good relations with Europe and other countries, on the other hand it is trying to incite what is the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. I can't do that.'' He is scheduled to visit Beijing in the coming weeks.
After the event ended on Friday, Mr. Blinken's motorcade sped across the mountainous island of Capri, passing tourists on their way to the port. This time he boarded an Italian fast patrol boat equipped with machine guns. The water remained choppy, but the ride back to the mainland was much easier.