welcome to the programme. ukraine has been a common theme at two major leaders summits. we will cover it all here tonight on the context. on the first day of their annual meeting injapan, g7 leaders agreed new sanctions against russia. meanwhile in saudi arabia, president zelensky made a surprise visit to the arab league gathering, urging those attending, to support ukraine. also making the headlines at that summit president assad of syria it s the first time he s been invited to the arab league since the devastating civil war, that s blighted the country. and later in the programme we have a special report from the new york times which has uncovered shocking evidence of the greek coastguard abandoning asylum seekers in the sea. but first let s focus in on the g7 summit injapan. the leaders have agreed new sanctions against russia. they said the measures would starve moscow of their technology, industrial equipment, and services that supported its war against ukraine.
one key industry is diamonds. russian diamonds were worth 4bn dollars in exports in 2021. the uk has announced plans to impose a unilateral ban on russian diamonds, following on the footsteps of action by the us last year. downing street said so far, more than 60% of president putin s war chest has been immobilised . war chest has been immobilised . worth about £275 billon. or $342 billion. european council president charles michel is under pressure to try to persuade the 27 eu members to follow suit. earlier i spoke with melinda haring from the atlantic council s eurasia centre and mai, a senior campaigner at the organisation global witness, which monitors russian energy closely. mai began by telling me oil was russia s most important export and more should be done to stop its sale. it is much more valuable