G7 ministers threaten "economic costs on Russia" over Ukrainian annexation

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Denis Pushilin, Leonid Pasechnik, Vladimir Saldo, Yevgeny Balitsky, who are the Russian-installed leaders in Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, attend a ceremony to declare the annexation of the Russian-controlled territories of four Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, after holding what Russian authorities called referendums in the occupied areas of Ukraine that were condemned by Kyiv and governments worldwide, in the Georgievsky Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, September 30, 2022. Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries condemned Russia's proclaimed annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday as a "new low point" in the war and vowed to take further action against Moscow.

"We will never recognise these purported annexations, nor the sham 'referenda' conducted at gunpoint," said a statement from the top diplomats of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

"We will impose further economic costs on Russia, and on individuals and entities - inside and outside of Russia - that provide political or economic support to these violations of international law," it added.

(Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)