The G-7 is tightening up economic sanctions on Russia for its war on Ukraine

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

President Biden is on the other side of the world today, in Hiroshima, Japan, meeting leaders of the G-7 nations. They've been looking for ways to make it harder for Russia to continue its war on Ukraine, taking a closer look at sanctions and export bans. NPR White House correspondent Scott Detrow joins us from Hiroshima. Hey, Scott.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: Hey, there.

SHAPIRO: Russia's war in Ukraine is the top agenda item at the summit. So what are leaders planning on doing?

DETROW: Yeah, a lot of these G-7 countries - all of them, actually - have been providing military support in one way or another to Ukraine. But the main tool they have used are sanctions against Russia. And their goal has been to try to cut Russia off from the international financial system - starve it of the funds that it needs to keep going. A U.S. official tells us more sanctions will be announced today by all of the members. And for the U.S., that will include new bans on exports of U.S. products to more than 70 companies and organizations in Russia and other parts of the world. These are companies that the U.S. says are selling stuff that Russia needs for the war effort, stuff that is banned, and now they're going to be blacklisted for doing it. Other announcements will be coming as well, and that will include steps that will be taken against more than 300 people who have been going around existing sanctions. These are people in Russia, but also around the rest of the world as well.

SHAPIRO: Well, as you say, there have been existing sanctions ever since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago. Is this new round a sign that the stuff these countries have done over the last year has not been effective?

DETROW: You know, I think it's a sign that what's been in place to this point maybe hasn't had enough time to kick in to make sure that Russia is isolated and paying a price for the war. And part of that is sanctions do take a long time to work. Here's Kim Donovan, who worked on sanctions at the Treasury Department and is now at the Atlantic Council.

KIM DONOVAN: This is a slow process, so anything that occurs in this space is not going to have, like, an immediate impact that maybe we're accustomed to seeing on - like, in the battlefield, where, like, things go boom. This is going to be a slow burn.

DETROW: But when it comes to whether existing sanctions are working, I do think it's telling. One of the things that the summit is going to focus on is improving enforcement of the sanctions that have already been put in place. Officials say there will be more announcements about closing off more loopholes that Russia has been exploiting. And kind of tweaking that is really important to make sure they keep working because Russia has found ways around these sanctions. And here's an example from Max Bergmann, who used to work at the State Department and is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

MAX BERGMANN: We've seen a huge import of washing machines making their way into Russia, where they're trying to take out the microchips and then use them for missile production or other weapons.

DETROW: And one other thing to note on Ukraine - we talked about this briefly yesterday. The G-7 leaders are probably going to have the chance to engage with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in, quote, "one way or another." That was according to a U.S. official who talked to us. We will see whether that's by video or perhaps something else. We have been noting that Zelenskyy is traveling outside of Ukraine this week.

SHAPIRO: Hmm. I'm just stuck on those microchips from washing machines being used in missiles.

OK. Well, we spoke yesterday about the trip being cut short because President Biden is also dealing with the debt ceiling. Here in Washington, White House aides have been on Capitol Hill continuing the talks, looking for a deal to raise the debt limit. How closely are the other G-7 countries watching that issue?

DETROW: I mean, the global economy would definitely take a hit if Biden and House Republicans can't reach a deal. As we've been talking about all the time, the deadline is just around the corner. And the official who briefed reporters was noting that defaulting on the debt would undermine U.S. leadership and weaken the power of the G-7. A weaker U.S. financial system would actually hurt sanctions because - think about this - these sanctions are based on punishing people by cutting them off from U.S. banks. If the U.S. economy is in flux - if people and companies don't actually want or need to use U.S. banks, it's less effective sanctions.

SHAPIRO: That's NPR's Scott Detrow in Hiroshima, Japan. Thank you.

DETROW: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.