Russia must de-escalate, fulfil commitments, G7 says

BERLIN (AA) - The G7 group of the world's major economic powers urged Russia on Saturday to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border and pursue a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

"Russia must de-escalate and fulfil its commitments," the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US said in a joint statement after their meeting in Munich.

"As a first step, we expect Russia to implement the announced reduction of its military activities along Ukraine's borders. We have seen no evidence of this reduction," the ministers said.

The strongly worded statement came amid heightened tensions between Western countries and Russia after the US administration accused Moscow of planning "false flag" operations to invade Ukraine within "several days."

Foreign ministers of G7 nations stressed their preference for a diplomatic solution, but also underlined that they are ready to impose severe sanctions on Russia if it violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

"While we are ready to explore diplomatic solutions to address legitimate security concerns, Russia should be in no doubt that any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences, including financial and economic sanctions on a wide array of sectoral and individual targets that would impose severe and unprecedented costs on the Russian economy," the statement said.

The ministers expressed deep concern over the increase in cease-fire violations, the use of heavy weaponry and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas in recent days, in eastern Ukraine.

"We are concerned that staged incidents could be used as a pretext for possible military escalation. Russia must use its influence over the self-proclaimed republics to exercise restraint and de-escalate," the ministers said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock hosted the meeting on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, which brings together the world's political and military decision makers.

Western countries have accused Russia of amassing more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that it could be planning a military offensive against its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine and instead accused Western countries of undermining Russia’s security through NATO's expansion toward its borders.