(Bloomberg) — UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said some 25 allied leaders agreed on Saturday to keep tightening restrictions on Russia’s economy in an effort to draw President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to secure a cease-fire in its war with Ukraine.
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“The effects of the sanctions on the Russian economy have been pretty profound,” Starmer told reporters at a press conference in London. “We shouldn’t underestimate the impact they’ve already had and by doubling down and increasing sanctions, that will cause even more pressure.”
Following a call with fellow leaders, Starmer said Western nations are gathering political and military momentum, and after additional commitments toward a post-conflict Ukraine were made, they’re now moving to the “operational phase” of arriving at security guarantees for the nation, some three years after Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. Allied military chiefs will meet Thursday for further talks, he said.
“It’s really important at this point that we put maximum pressure on Russia,” Starmer said. “This ‘yes, but,” is not good enough,” he added, accusing Putin of delaying a cease-fire by saying Russia needed to study the proposals and adding conditions.
Saturday’s virtual meeting included discussions about seizing frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s defense, Starmer said, although he again stressed there were political and legal hurdles to such a move.
The Russian leader this week stopped short of endorsing the truce proposal without resolving what he’s termed the underlying causes of the crisis.
“If Putin is serious about peace, it’s very simple: he has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a cease-fire,” Starmer said earlier. “And the world is watching. And my feeling is that sooner or later Putin is going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussions.”
The meeting followed an in-person summit hosted by the premier and French President Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of the month, after US President Donald Trump’s administration stunned European allies by opening direct talks with Putin.
The leaders of several European nations, along with those of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, joined the call.
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that European nations and their allies are “very motivated” to move toward peace, and that there’s more optimism now than two weeks ago.
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