US leads G20 boycott of Russian finance officials
WASHINGTON, United States — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen led a multinational group of finance chiefs on a walkout Wednesday as Russian officials spoke during a meeting of the G20, in the latest protest by Western nations over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's attack on its neighbor loomed over the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's most developed countries, the first since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion in late February.
British and Canadian officials also took part in the boycott, officials confirmed, underscoring the boiling tensions at the gathering convened to address global challenges like rising debt and a possible food crisis.
"Multiple finance ministers and central bank governors including Ukraine Finance Minister (Sergiy Marchenko) and Secretary Yellen walked out when Russia started talking at the G20 meeting," a source familiar with the event told AFP.
"Some finance ministers and central bank governors who were virtual turned their cameras off when Russia spoke."
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted a photograph of the officials who left the meeting, saying, "The world's democracies will not stand idly by in the face of continued Russian aggression and war crimes."
During the gathering, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called on Russian delegates to refrain from attending the sessions, saying "war is not compatible with international cooperation."
The Group of 20, chaired by Indonesia this year, includes major economies like the United States, China, India, Brazil, Japan and several countries in Europe, including Russia.
'Very important forum'
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who led the meeting said, the walkout was done "without disrupting... our discussion" on the substance of the agenda.
"All members see the G20 as a very important forum," she told reporters. "So I'm confident that this will not erode the cooperation as well as the role of the G20."
Prior to the meeting, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said the country, which chairs the G7 group of liberal democracies, would try to find common ground, but ruled out providing "a stage for Russia to spread propaganda and lies." He did not join the walkout.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov attended the meeting virtually, and "called on the partners to avoid politicizing the dialogue and stressed that the G20 has always been and remains primarily an economic format," his ministry said in a statement.
The finance officials are gathering on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF's spring meetings in Washington.
Despite the friction, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said global cooperation "must and will continue," pointing to multiple issues that "no country can solve on its own."
Georgieva, who heads an institution with 189 members, told reporters, "I can vouch for the fact that it is more difficult when there are tensions, but it is not impossible."
Debt woes
The meetings in Washington are focused on how to help the global economy recover from the new shock caused by Russia's invasion, which has driven prices for food and fuel higher and caused the IMF to lower its global growth outlook to 3.6 percent for this year.
Western nations have retaliated for the bloody incursion with sanctions meant to harm Russia's economy and turn it into a pariah state.
US President Joe Biden has proposed ejecting Russia from the G20.
But Mark Sobel, a former Treasury official who is now US chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, told AFP there was no obvious mechanism for booting Moscow, which is to varying degrees supported by China and India.
"I think that it really does raise a fundamental question about how are you going to manage global governance," he said of the tensions.
The divide also bodes ill for the G20 Common Framework created during the pandemic to help heavily indebted countries find a path to restructure their obligations, which Sobel said is "flailing" as China and private-sector creditors drag their feet on participating.
Follow this page for updates on the economic and political consequences of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Photo courtesy of AFP/Stefani Reynolds
US President Joe Biden welcomes a deal to avert a government shutdown but calls for Congress to swiftly approve aid to Ukraine after it was left out of the agreement.
"We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted," Biden says in a statement.
"I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment," he adds, referring to Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy. — AFP
The Ukrainian military on Thursday says that Russia had launched a "massive" drone attack overnight and that it had destroyed 31 out of the 39 aircraft.
Russian unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted over Black Sea coastal regions and further inland, says Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian southern military command.
Russia "does not stop the pressure and searching for new tactics: namely, with the use of mass attacks", Gumenyuk says on the messaging platform Telegram. — AFP
Japan dials up sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, announcing an expanded list on Friday that included an export ban on electric vehicles.
Russia was hit with a wave of sanctions after it sent forces into Ukraine in February last year, but calls have grown from Kyiv and its allies for tougher action against Moscow.
Tokyo has already frozen assets of Russian individuals and groups, and banned the export of goods to Russia's military-related organisations, as well as the export of construction and engineering services. — AFP
Biden administration announces additional security assistance for Ukraine for its critical security and defense needs.
The United States Department of Defense says that the commitment to security assistance is valued at up to $400 million.
This includes additional air defense munitions, artillery and other ammunition, armored vehicles, anti-armor weapons, and other equipment to help Ukraine counter Russia’s ongoing war of aggression.
The Kremlin on Tuesday issues a veiled warning over the future of grain exports from Ukraine following Moscow's exit from a landmark deal allowing passage for cargo ships from three Ukraine ports.
Kyiv had said it was prepared to continue grain exports despite the Russian withdrawal, which sparked outrage from the United Nations and the West.
"Without appropriate security guarantees, certain risks arise here. If (a future agreement) is formalised without Russia, then these risks should be taken into account," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says. — AFP
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