G7 Expected To Agree To Continue Maintaining Tough Sanctions Against Russia

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized countries are expected to agree to continue maintaining tough sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in a joint statement to be released on Friday, a Japanese official said. 

G-7 ministers  also express serious concern over Moscow's indication of its readiness to use nuclear weapons against the neighboring country and pledge its support for Ukraine in the document, to be released before the conclusion of a meeting in two days stepping up  Thursday in the western German city of Munster, the official said. 

Ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, as well as the European Union, have been leading efforts to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine since late February amid an asset freeze against the president. Russian, Vladimir Putin and the country's central bank. 

Senior G-7 diplomats are also expected to speak out strongly against unilateral attempts to manipulate statistics. us quo by force, in an apparent reference to China's maritime assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, and reiterate their condemnation of North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches, the official added. 

During Thursday's talks, G7 ministers called for a peaceful solution. Resolution of the Taiwan issue, referring to "the importance of cross-strait peace and stability".

Taiwan is an autonomous democratic island that Beijing regards as a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland, if necessary by force. Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have increased, particularly since a visit to Taiwan in August by  Nancy Pelosi, the third-highest-ranking US official, Speaker of the U.S House, despite China's warning against any official contact between Taipei and Washington. According to the Federal Government, food and energy security, climate change and the situation in Iran will also be on the agenda.

Concerns over food supplies have increased, particularly in some African and  Middle Eastern countries that are heavily dependent on grain imports from Ukraine, a major producer, and Russia has been accused of destroying agricultural infrastructure in the Eastern European nation to have. 

Food shortages will worsen  after Moscow  last week announced the suspension of a deal reached with Kyiv in July  to allow Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports. However, on Wednesday, Russia decided to go ahead with the deal.