Canada says that the G20 cannot function if Russia is present at the table

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks to journalists outside the office of the United States Trade Representative in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 2018. Image Credit: Reuters

Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday that it was impossible to work with Russia in the G20 a group of countries that meets to discuss ways to boost global economic growth, as long as Moscow was fighting in Ukraine.

"With Russia at the table, the G20 can't function effectively," Freeland said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko in Washington, where G20 countries met on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings.

The war is hampering economic progress "Russia has no seat at the table of nations working to keep the global economy afloat... It is impossible to be both a poacher and a gamekeeper."

Finance ministers and central bankers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries have walked out of meetings whenever Russian representatives have spoken.

Because of the differences, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors were unable to reach an agreement on a communique outlining areas of agreement on significant problems such as debt relief for impoverished countries, the effects of Ukraine's war, and climate change.

The IMF steering committee failed to issue a common statement again on Thursday, and it was uncertain whether the combined IMF-World Bank Development Committee would issue a communique on Friday.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, Freeland, who is of Ukrainian origin, has made impassioned pleadings on behalf of the country.

According to Reuters, she addressed Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov directly told on Thursday, saying his participation in an IMF meeting was "perverse and absurd" because "your war is making us poorer."

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 refused to join Western-led sanctions against Russia.

Russia explains its actions in Ukraine as a "special operation," with the goal of destroying its southern neighbor's military capabilities and apprehending dangerous nationalists.