The United States opposes language that could hurt its efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday.
“We cannot sign a communiqué that is inconsistent with our position, which is to put both sides at the negotiating table…we feel that antagonistic language sometimes makes that difficult, especially since we are the only ones right now who seem to be in a position to make such negotiations possible,” Rubio said, as quoted by the State Department press office.
The secretary of state said he did not know whether the G7 allies had reached a solution, but expressed confidence they could produce a document that would be “meaningful and unifying without undermining the ability to bring both sides to the negotiating table.” The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Germany, Italy and the United States – will meet on 12-14 March in the Canadian province of Quebec, for the first time since President Donald Trump returned to power in January.
According to Reuters, citing four G7 diplomats, Canada had initially hoped the seven would “agree on a common statement that would cover the war in Ukraine, the Middle East and China, as well as a second declaration that would outline G7 efforts to contain Russia’s so-called” shadow fleet.
Nearly two pages out of eight in the last G7 statement in November were devoted entirely to Ukraine, mostly criticising Russia.
However, diplomats say it is very difficult to reach agreement on the full communiqué this time and some fear a compromise may not be found.
The two diplomats said the United States sought to remove references to sanctions and Russia’s war in Ukraine, while demanding tougher language on China.