Biden stresses Western unity on Ukraine amid war fatigue
ELMAU, Germany — President Joe Biden and Western allies opened a three-day summit Sunday in the Bavarian Alps intent on keeping economic fallout from the war in Ukraine from fracturing the global coalition working to punish Russia’s aggression.
Britain’s Boris Johnson warned leaders not to give in to “fatigue” even as Russia fired missiles at Kyiv.
The Group of Seven leaders were set to announce new bans on imports of Russian gold, with the hope of further isolating Russia economically. They also were looking at possible price caps on energy meant to limit Russian oil and gas profits Moscow can pump into its war effort.
And following a proposal from last year’s summit, Biden launched a global infrastructure partnership designed to counter China’s influence in the developing world. The initiative aims to leverage $600 billion with fellow G-7 countries by 2027 for global infrastructure projects. Some $200 billion would come from the United States, Biden said.
U.S. officials have long argued that China’s infrastructure initiative traps receiving countries in debt and that the investments benefit China more than their hosts.
In a pre-summit show of force, Russia launched its first missile strikes against the Ukrainian capital in three weeks, striking at least two residential buildings, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Biden condemned Russia’s actions as “more of their barbarism,” and stressed that allies need to remain firm even as the economic reverberations from the war take a toll
around the globe in inflation, food shortages and more.
“We have to stay together, because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has been counting on, from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G-7 would splinter, but we haven’t and we’re not going to,” Biden said.
Ukraine cast a shadow over the gathering, but the leaders were determined to project resolve.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Biden that the allies all managed “to stay united, which obviously Putin never expected.”
Biden said of Putin’s war: “We can’t let this aggression take the form it has and get away with it.”
Scholz, who has faced criticism at home and abroad for perceived reluctance to send Ukraine heavy weapons, said, “Germany and the U.S. will always act together when it comes to questions of Ukraine’s security.”
Meanwhile, Johnson urged fellow leaders not to give in to “fatigue.” He has expressed concern that divisions may emerge in the pro-Ukraine alliance as the war heads toward its fifth month.
Asked whether he
thought France and Germany were doing enough, Johnson praised the “huge strides” made by Germany to arm Ukraine and cut imports of Russian gas. He did not mention France.
Biden and Scholz, in their pre-summit meeting, agreed on the need for a negotiated end to the Ukraine war, but did not get into specifics on how to achieve it, said a senior Biden administration official, who requested anonymity.
Biden said the G-7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. along with the European Union — will ban imports of gold from Russia. A formal announcement was expected on the final day of the summit Tuesday.
“Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this pointless and barbaric war. He is bankrolling his ego at the expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people,” Johnson said. “We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding.”
Gold, in recent years, has been the top Russian export after energy — reaching almost $19 billion, or about 5% of global exports, in 2020, according to the White House.