Western finance ministers condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine at G20 talks in Indonesia Friday, accusing Russian officials of complicity in atrocities committed during the war.<\/p>\n
The two-day meeting on the island of Bali began under the shadow of a Russian military assault that has roiled markets, spiked food prices and stoked breakneck inflation, a week after Moscow's top diplomat walked out of talks with the forum's foreign ministers.<\/p>\n
\"Russia is solely responsible for negative spillovers to the global economy,\" US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Russian delegation in the opening session, according to a Treasury official.<\/p>\n
\"Russia's officials should recognise that they are adding to the horrific consequences of this war through their continued support of the Putin regime. You share responsibility for the innocent lives lost.\"<\/p>\n
She was joined by Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who told Russia's delegation they were responsible for \"war crimes\" in Ukraine because of their support for the invasion, a Canadian official said.<\/p>\n
\"It is not only generals who commit war crimes, it is the economic technocrats who allow the war to happen and to continue,\" said Freeland, according to the official.<\/p>\n
Both Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko are participating virtually in the meeting.<\/p>\n
Moscow instead sent Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov to attend the talks in person. He was present for both Yellen and Freeland's condemnation, according to a source present at the talks.<\/p>\n
Host and G20 chair Indonesia warned ministers that failure to tackle energy and food crises would be catastrophic.<\/p>\n
In her opening remarks, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati called on ministers to work together with a spirit of \"cooperation\" because \"the world is watching\" for solutions.<\/p>\n
\"The cost of our failure is more than we can afford,\" she told delegates. \"The humanitarian consequences for the world and for many low-income countries would be catastrophic.\"<\/p>\n
- No walkout -<\/p>\n
The meeting has largely focused on the food and energy crises that are weighing on an already brittle global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's actions including the destruction of agricultural facilities, theft of grain and farm equipment, and effective blockade of Black Sea ports amounts to using food as a weapon of war,\" Yellen said in an afternoon seminar.<\/p>\n
Indrawati said members had \"identified the urgent need for the G20 to take concrete steps\" to address food insecurity and to help countries in need.<\/p>\n
Yellen is also pressing G20 allies for a price cap on Russian oil to choke off Putin's war chest and pressure Moscow to end its invasion while bringing down energy costs.<\/p>\n
Yellen in April led a multinational walkout of finance officials as Russian delegates spoke at a G20 meeting in Washington, but there was no such action on Friday.<\/p>\n
There is unlikely to be a final communique issued when talks end on Saturday because of disagreements with Russia.<\/p>\n
- 'Act together' -<\/p>\n
G20 chair Indonesia -- which pursues a neutral foreign policy -- has refrained from uninviting Russia despite Western pressure.<\/p>\n
\"We need to act together to demonstrate why G20 deserves its reputation as the premier forum for international cooperation,\" Indrawati said.<\/p>\n
Alongside Moscow and Kyiv's ministers, Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun and Britain's new Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi were only attending virtually.<\/p>\n
International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva will appear in person after saying Wednesday the global economic outlook had \"darkened significantly\" because of Moscow's invasion.<\/p>\n
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde is participating virtually, but World Bank chief executive David Malpass will not attend.<\/p>\n
The meeting is a prelude to the leaders' summit on the Indonesian island in November that was meant to focus on the global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Other issues being tackled by the ministers included digital financial inclusion -- with more than a billion of the world's population still without access to a bank account -- and the deadline for an international tax rules overhaul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Western finance ministers condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine at G20 talks in Indonesia Friday, accusing Russian officials of complicity in atrocities committed during the war. The two-day meeting on the island of Bali began under the shadow of a Russian military assault that has roiled markets, spiked food prices and stoked breakneck inflation, a week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,2576],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-103679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed","category-fil-d-actualite"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n