Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the US is against any language that could hurt its efforts to get Russia and Ukraine to negotiate. This comes as the US has been in talks with its G7 allies ahead of a meeting this week, causing further concern.
The foreign ministers from the G7 countries—Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US—will meet in La Malbaie, Quebec from March 12-14, marking their first meeting since President Donald Trump returned to power in January, reports Reuters.
While the G7 has generally supported Ukraine since Russia was suspended in 2014, Trump's approach has caused tension by moving the US closer to Moscow and criticizing Kyiv.
According to four G7 diplomats, Canada had initially hoped the seven would agree on an overall statement ranging from the war in Ukraine to the Middle East and China and a second declaration that would outline the G7's efforts to curb Russia's so-called shadow fleet.
Shadow fleet refers to vessels used by Russia to move oil, arms and grains around in violation of international sanctions imposed on it over the Ukraine war. The vessels are not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers.
Almost two pages out of eight in the last G7 statement in November were focused entirely on Ukraine, mostly taking aim at Russia.
However, the diplomats said agreement on the full communique this time was proving very difficult, with some fearing that a compromise may not be found.
Two diplomats said the United States was seeking to remove references to sanctions and Russia's war in Ukraine, while demanding tougher language on China.
Speaking to reporters en route to Saudi Arabia for talks with Ukrainian officials, Rubio said there are always sticking points, adding that Washington cannot sign off on anything that could impede bringing Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table.
"We feel like antagonistic language sometimes makes it harder to bring parties to the table, especially since we're the only ones right now that seem to be in a position to make talks like that possible," he said.
He said he was "certain" they would eventually arrive at a document that was meaningful and unifying without "undermining our ability to bring both sides to the table."
Three diplomats said the United States also opposed a separate statement on Russia's shadow fleet.
Washington has already broken with allies at the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation at the end of February, refusing to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"The best case scenario is two statements. Plan B is one statement. But the Americans are blocking the maritime statement, so it's not easy. Even what the Canadians thought was going to be easy is not in fact easy," said one G7 diplomat.
The diplomats cautioned that talks were still ongoing to try to find a compromise.
Bd-pratidin English/ Afia
