US to ‘boycott’ G20 meetings if Russian officials participate: US
In a fresh attempt to isolate Russia over its war on Ukraine, the United States on Wednesday called for its expulsion from G20, or the group of the world’s 20 major economies.
Janet Yellen, the US’ Treasury Secretary, said Wednesday the American side would boycott a number of meetings at the coming G20 summit in Indonesia if Russian officials show up.
This comes as the West is seeking to punish Russia over brutal killings of civilians in Bucha, a town near the capital city of Kyiv in Ukraine. Last week, several bodies of civilians were found in Bucha after Ukraine forces reclaimed the region from Russian troops. The bodies were found with their hands tied and shot from close range, indicating mass executions during the siege by Russian forces.
While the Western nations, including the US, and Ukraine have blamed Russia for the gruesome killings, Moscow has categorically denied the accusations. Ukrainian authorities are behind “crude and cynical provocations” in Bucha, Putin reitrated on Wednesday, while denying any responsibility.
US president Joe Biden wants to push Russia out of active participation in major international institutions, Yellen also said, while acknowledging that it was unlikely that Russia could be expelled from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) given its rules.
“President Biden’s made it clear, and I certainly agree with him, that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in any of the financial institutions,” Yellen said, according to news agency Reuters.
The G20 grouping is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries including China, India and Saudi Arabia, and the European Union (EU). Since 2008, the club has been holding yearly summits and serves as a key international platform for issues from Covid-19 relief to cross-border debt.
Other countries in the grouping include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom.
This year Indonesia holds the presidency, meaning it will host a finance meeting in July and a leaders summit in November.
G20 finance ministers and central bank governors are also scheduled to meet this month on the side-lines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. Yellen did not specify which meetings she was referring to when she made the comments, but a Treasury spokesperson later said that the senior official was referring to the April 20 meeting.
The April finance meeting will be held both in-person and virtually and Russia’s participation is unclear at present.