Asking Russia To Be Expelled From The G20, US Minister Of Finance Says It Will Not Participate In A Number Of Meetings In Indonesia If There Are Moscow Officials

Group photo of leaders of the G20 countries at the summit in Rome, Italy. (Wikimedia Commons/Government of Brazil/Planalto Palace)

JAKARTA - United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russia should be excluded from the Group of 20 (G20) forum, saying the United States would boycott a number of G20 meetings, if Russian officials were present.

His comments at a session of the US House Financial Services Committee raised questions about the future role of the G20 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Since 2008, the G20 has been the premier international forum for issues ranging from COVID-19 relief to cross-border debt and also includes China, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries reluctant to condemn Russia's actions.

Yellen told lawmakers that Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the killing of civilians in Bucha were reprehensible, an unacceptable affront to the rules-based global order, and would have a huge economic impact on Ukraine and beyond.

The United States and its major allies have placed greater emphasis in recent months on the G7 grouping of industrial democracies, whose interests are more aligned, using the G7 meeting to coordinate their response to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Yellen said President Biden's administration wanted to push Russia out of active participation in key international institutions, but acknowledged that it was unlikely that Russia could be excluded from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) given its rules.

"President Biden made it clear, and I certainly agree with him, that Russia cannot be business as usual at any financial institution," Yellen said in response to a question.

"He asked for Russia to be removed from the G20, and I have made it clear to my Indonesian counterparts that we would not participate in a number of meetings if Russia was there," Yellen said.

Indonesia, which holds the presidency this year, will host a finance meeting in July and a leaders' summit in November.

A Treasury spokeswoman later said Yellen was referring to the April 20 meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington and a meeting of related deputies.

The April financial meeting will be held in person and virtually and Russia's participation is unclear at this time.

Meanwhile, Russia has said President Vladimir Putin intends to attend the G20 summit in Bali this year and has received China's support to remain in the group.

Yellen's testimony comes as President Biden's Administration announced a new round of sanctions to punish Russia, including barring Americans from investing in Russia and locking Sberbank, Russia's biggest lender and holder of a third of its bank deposits, outside the US financial system, along with other institutions.

However, transactions that allow European allies to buy Russian oil and natural gas are exempted through a special Treasury license.

Yellen further said flexibility in Russia's energy transactions is necessary because many European countries "remain highly dependent on Russian natural gas, as well as oil, and they are committed to making the transition from that dependence as quickly as possible." But, he admits that this will take time.

A total ban on oil exports from Russia, the world's third-largest producer after the United States and Saudi Arabia, is likely to push prices up to the detriment of the United States and Europe, Yellen said.

He added that he hoped the current high prices would entice oil companies in the United States and elsewhere to increase production over the next six months, which, together with President Biden's release of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, could allow for more restrictions. strict on Russian oil.