French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Tuesday the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's calls to label Russia as a country sponsoring terrorism.

At a news conference following the G7 summit, Macron pointed out that "as to the designation as a sponsor of terrorism, I want to have this clear. France disapproves of such methods, as we have always sought to stick to judicial procedures."

Asked about when the war in Ukraine might end, the French President hoped that it would be over by the end of the year.

"No one can say for sure that the hostilities will end in the next few weeks or even months," he said, affirming that the G7 countries would continue imposing anti-Russian sanctions.

On June 27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had proposed to the US branding Russia as a sponsor of terrorism.

The US imposes strict unilateral sanctions against countries on this list.

Washington took moves to execute fresh sanctions against Russia agreed upon by G7 leaders on Tuesday, targeting Moscow's defense industry and prohibiting gold imports from the nation.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 70 entities, many of which are critical to the Russian Federation’s defense industrial base, including State Corporation Rostec, the cornerstone of Russia’s defense, industrial, technology, and manufacturing sectors, as well as 29 Russian individuals.