G-7 ministers aim to press Russia to end Assad support

Ministers of G7 nations considering sanctions on Russians

13

Lucca, Italy, April 10: G7 foreign ministers were on Monday to send a “clear and coordinated message” to Russia over its stance on Syria as Washington ratcheted up the pressure following a suspected chemical attack in the war-torn country.

Britain’s foreign secretary Boris Johnson set the tone for the meeting, describing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as “toxic” and saying it was “time for (Russian President) Vladimir Putin to face the truth about the tyrant he is propping up”.

US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said the US will “hold to account” any government that commits atrocities against innocent people.

“We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world,” Mr Tillerson said in a short statement commemorating a 1944 German Nazi massacre in Sant’Anna di Stazzema.

Top diplomats from the seven major advanced economies were in Italy for their annual two-day meeting which had initially been expected to focus on talks with new US secretary of state Rex Tillerson about hotspots like Libya, Iran and Ukraine.

But the agenda is now likely to be dominated by last week’s suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held Syrian town that killed at least 87 civilians, and the US cruise missiles fired at a Syrian air base in retaliation.

G-7 diplomats hope to use outrage over the attack and wide international support for the United States’ retaliatory missile strikes to push Russia to abandon Assad and join a new peace effort for Syria.

Speaking after meeting with Mr Tillerson, Mr Johnson said ministers “will be discussing the possibility of further sanctions, certainly, on some of the Syrian military figures and indeed on some of the Russian military figures.”

He said Russia had a choice: to continue backing the “toxic” Assad regime, “or to work with the rest of the world to find a solution for Syria, a political solution.”

The meeting brings together the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Canada, US and Italy.