WANGELS /Germany/, May 14. /TASS/. The G7 group of nations (the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, France and Japan) calls on China not to assist Russia and not to undermine sanctions against Moscow, according to G7 Foreign Ministers’ Communique passed on Saturday following a three-day meeting in the Wangels municipality in the north of Germany.

"We call on China not to assist Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine, not to undermine sanctions imposed on Russia <…>, and to desist from engaging in information manipulation, disinformation and other means to legitimize Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine," the document said.

Meanwhile, G7 top diplomats urged China "to uphold its commitments within the rules-based international order, to contribute to international security and to cooperate in advancing global health security, as well as the provision of global public goods, including on climate change, biodiversity and gender equality." "We remind China of the need to uphold the principle of the UN Charter on peaceful settlement of disputes and to abstain from threats, coercion, intimidation measures or use of force," they noted. "We encourage China to support, in line with international law, the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and the integrity of its internationally recognized borders and to resolutely urge Russia to stop its military aggression against Ukraine," the ministers stressed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation, after which the US, the EU, the UK, as well as some other states, imposed sanctions against Russian persons and legal entities, as well as sped up arms supplies to Kiev.