Top officials from Britain, the United States and Canada walked out on Russia’s representatives at a Group of 20 meeting on Wednesday and many members spoke to condemn Moscow’s war in Ukraine, exposing deep divisions in the bloc of major economies.
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who chaired the meeting of G20 finance officials in Washington, acknowledged the body faced unprecedented challenges but called for cooperation to overcome headwinds slowing global growth.
“This is an extraordinary situation,” Indrawati told reporters after the daylong meeting. “It’s not business as usual, a very dynamic and challenging one.”
The G20 includes Western countries that have accused Moscow of war crimes in Ukraine, as well as China, India, Indonesia and South Africa which have not joined Western-led sanctions against Russia over the conflict.
Indrawati said many countries spoke out against the war at the meeting, although she did not identify them.
“In order for us to be able to recover together … we need more and even stronger cooperation,” Indrawati told a briefing. “The G20 is still … the premier forum for all of us to be able to discuss and talk about all the issues.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told attendees she strongly disapproved of a senior Russian official’s presence at the meeting before she walked out, two sources told Reuters.
She was joined by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde.
Ukrainian officials, in Washington seeking billions of dollars of additional funding, also walked out of the meeting, a source familiar with the meeting said.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov represented Moscow in person, while Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Russia’s central bank governor joined virtually, a second source said.
Over five million Ukrainians have fled abroad since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945.
The United States accuses Russia of committing war crimes in what Moscow calls a “special military operation”. Russia denies the allegations.
