The Group of Seven (G7) leading countries will continue to resolutely oppose Russia's aggression in Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said ahead of a G7 meeting.
"Now it is a matter of showing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin our determination that he will not achieve his goals even through attrition and fatigue," Baerbock said in Seoul on Sunday before leaving for Japan for the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Karuizawa near Nagano.
"As the G7, we are strong together because we know exactly what we stand for: For an international order in which the rule of law and international law take precedence over the law of the strongest," Baerbock said.
As a "crisis team in constant action," the G7 of economically strong democracies had countered Russia's aggression last year "one barrier after the other: with winter aid for the people in Ukraine, with the Russia sanctions and the oil price cap. With our support, Ukraine has withstood Russia's energy war and winter offensive," Baerbock said. "At the meeting in Japan, we will sharpen our commitment."
The G7 foreign ministers planned to discuss the Russian war against Ukraine from Sunday evening until Tuesday and also how to deal with an increasingly assertive China internationally and developments in the Indo-Pacific.
"As democracies, we are successful in systemic competition with autocratic forces when our partners and friends around the world have confidence in us. We must avoid our unity being misunderstood by others as demarcation or that new rifts are torn open," said Baerbock.
Before leaving South Korea, Baerbock met refugees from North Korea in Seoul and found about living conditions in the isolated country, among other things.
The consultations in Karuizawa serve to prepare for the G7 summit next month in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, which Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also scheduled to attend.
Besides Germany, the G7 also includes France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the United States and Britain. Japan holds the G7 presidency this year.
