Russia calls G7 incubator for 'hysteria'

MOSCOW — Russia on Sunday dismissed the G7 summit in Japan's Hiroshima as a "politicized" event that it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements and accused the group of undermining global stability.

Moscow lashed out after the Western leaders said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Moscow as it claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, something Kyiv denied.

In a statement posted on Telegram, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the G7 had "irreversibly deteriorated" and the forum had become "an 'incubator' where, under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxons, destructive initiatives that undermine global stability are prepared".

The statement accused the G7 of fanning anti-Russian and anti-Chinese "hysteria".

Russia used to be a member of the G7 club of industrialized countries, which was previously known as the G8, until Moscow was excluded after Crimea joined Russia through a referendum in 2014.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was present at the Hiroshima summit as a guest, an opportunity he used to encourage member nations to maintain arms supplies and diplomatic support for Kyiv amid its conflict with Russia.

He leveraged the powerful symbolism of Hiroshima, synonymous with the horrors of war, to press partners and skeptics alike to back his defense against Russia's 15-month special military operation, Agence France-Presse commented.

On the battlefield, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia's Wagner paramilitary military group, said in a video message posted on his Telegram channel that Wagner will begin to withdraw its units on May 25 for rest and retraining, and its fighters will create "the necessary lines of defense".

" (Russian President) Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units … on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk," the presidential press service said.

Zelensky denied that Russian troops now occupy Bakhmut, although he acknowledged they were in the city, which has been ground into ruins in months of brutal fighting that shows little sign of slowing.

He left Japan with reassurances, however, that his allies will see out the fight, with US President Joe Biden insisting that Ukraine's backers "will not waver".

Military package

The White House earlier unveiled a $375-million package of US aid that includes ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers, artillery shells, anti-tank guided missiles and thermal imaging systems.

It came after the United States lifted a veto on Ukrainian access to advanced US-made F-16 fighter jets, a significant upgrade from Kyiv's Cold War-era fleet of MiGs and Sukhois.

The transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would raise the question of NATO's involvement in the conflict, Russia's Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said in remarks published early on Monday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in the same statement, accused the G7 of "flirting" with non-Western states in an effort to stymie the development of their ties with Moscow and Beijing.

It said it was convinced though that the forum was incapable of reflecting the interests of the Asia-Pacific region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Latin America.

Agencies - Xinhua