G7 foreign ministers to hold urgent meeting on Ukraine this week - media
That's according to Kyodo News, Ukrinform reports.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the foreign ministers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, which will take place on February 18-20.
Earlier this week, the G7 finance ministers announced their readiness to impose strong economic sanctions against Russia in the event of its further invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has been building up troops in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and around its borders. The Kremlin is trying to use these military preparations to directly blackmail the United States and NATO by issuing an ultimatum as part of so-called "security guarantees," demanding that NATO stop expanding further east and that members of the military alliance give up their security policy.
Russia has demanded that the United States and NATO respond in writing to its proposals for "security guarantees." The answer was received on January 26. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called these answers generally unsatisfactory, but said the dialogue would continue. If the West refused to accept Russia's "proposals," the Kremlin publicly threatened to take "military and military-technical measures."
On February 15, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that units of Russia's Western and Southern military districts started returning to their bases by rail and road.
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