G7 members “remain committed to maintaining and stepping up sanctions against Russia for the purpose of limiting its war effort, and against those states that provide material support to Russia's illegal war against Ukraine. Russia must withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant." The G7 final communiqué which was concluded in Munich therefore confirms the political, economic and military support for Ukraine. The foreign ministers of the 7 world powers (obviously excluding Russia) met on the sidelines of the work of the Munich Security Conference. G7 members expect “third countries not to circumvent and weaken these measures, and call on third parties to end assistance to the Russian military and its affiliated forces,” or they will have to pay a high price. It is a position that reinforces the conclusions of the Munich Security Conference in which the United States maintained a very firm position on the conflict while China announced that it will present a peace proposal, leaving however all the other participants very cautious about its real extent .
Munich Security Conference: the US on the attack. “Russia has committed crimes against humanity, we have proof
Russia is "responsible for crimes against humanity" in its war against Ukraine, the US vice president said, Kamala Harris, during his speech at the Munich Security Conference. “Bombing of houses, torture, sexual assaults, deportations, executions of civilians: before entering politics, I was a prosecutor. I can tell you that we have gathered the evidence, we know the law and there can be no doubts: these are crimes against humanity." Harris spoke a few days after the speech that President Joe Biden will make on the 21st, the same day that Vladimir Putin in turn announced him, a few days after the one year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
But what attracted attention on the second day of the conference was the peace proposal announced by China, represented by Foreign Minister Wan Yi. Wang has called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine through dialogue and consultation. “Problems between countries – he said – should not be solved through pressure or unilateral sanctions"because it leads to infinite difficulties". “Peace should have a chance. We will present a proposal with the Chinese position on the political solution of the Ukrainian crisis,” the minister added.
Wan Yi's exit has left the US and its European allies cold, fearing what diplomats call the charm offensive, that is an action more seductive than concrete. "The United States is concerned that Beijing has deepened its relationship with Moscow since the war began," Harris said. “Any move by China to provide a lethal support for Russia it would only reward aggression, continue killing and further undermine a rules-based order,” he warned. According to the Wall Street Journal, for example, Beijing is continuing to supply Moscow with small commercial drones that end up helping Russian forces in Ukraine. Harris's message has been strengthened since Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Wang in an undisclosed location just outside Munich, warning that "there will be consequences" for China if it provides "material support" to Russia in the war against Ukraine and telling the other party that "they must never happen again cases such as that of Beijing's spy balloon in the US skies.
Also for the president of the Defense Commission of the Bundestag, Agnes-Marie Strack-Zimmermann, the Chinese announcement appears as "a story to distract from what is happening in the Indochinese sea", in Hong Kong as in Taiwan.
Europe: Double military support to Ukraine
Allies must "double" military support to Ukraine, said the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Munich. “We have to double down and we have to continue the really massive support that is needed so that these imperialist plans of Putin completely fail. It is Ukraine that has to decide when it is time to talk about peace». And while von der Leyen is thinking of a European plan that accelerates the supply of military aid, NATO number one Jens Stoltenberg in turn underlines that it is necessary «to maintain and increase support for Ukraine. Putin is not planning peace, but new offensives. And there are no signs that he has changed his ambitions. He seeks contacts with other authoritarian regimes such as Iran and North Korea. We have to provide Ukraine with what it needs to win."
“Let's see what exactly the Chinese plan will contain. It is good that there is, because China plays an important role vis-à-vis Russia,” commented the Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, on the sidelines of the summit, recalling that "Italy has asked China to work for peace" during the meetings that Wang had in recent days in Rome with Tajani himself and with the president Sergio Mattarella.
