As the 50th G7 Summit approaches this week, June 13 to 15, in Fasano, Italy, Razom We Stand calls for urgent and decisive measures to address the escalating crisis in Ukraine. The G7 must cut off financial flows from Russian fossil fuel exports and intensify support for Ukraine's clean energy transition to finally put a halt to the Kremlin’s thirst for war.
Global leaders at the G7 are expected to discuss frozen Russian assets, but there has been little mention of the G7 nation's complicity in purchasing Russian fossil fuels, which continue to fund Putin’s war chest and cause immense suffering in Ukraine. According to the New York Times, energy and sanctions experts believe the leaks in the price cap were the result of design flaws that were largely associated with American interests in keeping Russian oil flowing.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, its revenues from fossil fuel exports have exceeded EUR 684 billion. G7 countries have significantly contributed to this revenue by purchasing Russian LNG and oil products. This financial support enables Russia to persist in its brutal attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving thousands of civilians without power due to rolling blackouts.
These attacks have inflicted permanent damage on Ukraine’s energy system, targeting not only generating stations but also compromising water supply in certain areas and disrupting electricity access for millions of civilians. This has left over half of its energy infrastructure destroyed or captured while Russia continues to exploit energy-related sanctions loopholes.
It is utterly unacceptable that EU citizens are unknowingly funding over 125,000 alleged war crimes in Ukraine by effectively handing over approximately EUR 420 per citizen to the Kremlin through the purchase of Russian fossil fuels.
Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Director of Razom We Stand, stated: "The G7 must confront the harsh truth that global purchases of Russian fossil fuels are financing Russia’s relentless aggression against Ukraine, causing immense human suffering and devastating our energy infrastructure. The G7 is at a pivotal moment: they can either continue pumping dollars into Russia's energy export industry, enabling this violence and brutality to continue, or take decisive action to sever this financial lifeline and support Ukraine’s shift to clean, sustainable energy. Inaction will render them complicit in this ongoing bloodshed, a historical stain that won’t be forgotten.”
Svitlana Romanko attended the G7 Energy Ministers meeting at the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Tuesday, where Ms Romanko raised a poster demanding a full embargo on Russian oil and gas. She engaged in follow-up discussions with representatives from the US, Italy, and Germany, emphasizing the critical role of banning Russian fossil fuels in defeating Russia and enabling Ukraine's renewable energy rebuild. Both the US and Italy indicated that sanctions on Russia will be significantly tightened this weekend at the meeting in Apulia to dismantle their war economy further.
Despite being in the third year of Putin’s full-scale invasion, EU imports of Russian LNG have not decreased. In fact, during the second year of the invasion, EU import volumes of Russian LNG remained over 30% higher than the year before the invasion, with exceptionally high import levels in G7 countries France and Germany.
Razom We Stand demands that the G7 implement stringent enforcement measures, including immediate sanctions on vessels violating oil price caps, bans on the transshipment of Russian LNG in EU ports, and prohibitions on importing oil products derived from Russian crude.
The G7 should leverage its substantial resources to help Ukraine rebuild its energy infrastructure cleaner and more resilient. Ukraine's Soviet-era centralised energy system has been severely damaged, and the situation continues to deteriorate further with almost daily attacks.
The G7 should capitalise on Ukraine's vast solar and wind energy potential. These renewable resources can not only meet Ukraine's electricity needs but also enhance energy security through decentralised generation. Continuing to support new gas investments is economically unjustifiable, especially given the oil and gas industry's record profits over the past two years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Instead, what the G7 should be doing is investing in cheaper, cleaner energy sources like wind and solar, which can stimulate economies, take away the power of petro-dictators, reduce climate damage costs, and benefit the environment.
As the world, and especially many of the G7 countries, continue to peddle the narrative that they support Ukraine, they have a responsibility to truly stand with Ukraine and take meaningful steps to address the root causes of this conflict: the revenues Russia derives from fossil fuels. Razom We Stand demands that G7 leaders take concrete actions to seize this opportunity to prioritise peace, security, and environmental sustainability.
ENDS
