Canadian Finance Minister Christia Freeland wrote on Twitter: “World democracies will not stand idly by in the face of ongoing Russian aggression and war crimes.” She tweeted a photo of officials who left the meeting, including Yellen, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde.
Prior to the meeting, US officials said Yellen would not attend certain sessions of the gathering, which included Russia.
Ukrainian officials also addressed the session as invited guests and also left during Russia’s presentation. Yellen and other officials attended the session during the remarks, but left when Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov began speaking virtually.
Another official said finance ministers had discussed plans to boycott Russia’s involvement some time ago.
Yellen said earlier this month that she had informed this year’s G20 host Indonesia that she would not participate in sessions involving Russia. G20 finance ministers are meeting in Washington this week to coincide with the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Ahead of Wednesday’s release, Treasury officials made it clear that it would not be the case when Yellen interacted with Russian officials during a large gathering of world economic leaders this week.
While Yellen will attend some sessions of a meeting of finance ministers and the governor of the G20 central bank with Russian officials present, including the opening session, she will not attend all if the Russians are there, according to a senior ministry official. US finances.
“President Biden has made it clear, and I definitely agree with him, that Russia cannot work as usual in any of the financial institutions,” Yellen told the House Financial Services Commission. “He demanded that Russia be removed from the G20, and I made it clear to my colleagues in Indonesia that we would not participate in a number of meetings if the Russians were there.”
While President Biden said Russia should no longer be in the G20, expelling Moscow will require the support of all members. This is considered unlikely, as China has said it will not back down Russia’s expulsion.
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