Russian officials have no place at G20 summit: Yellen
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday said Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine was causing a negative spillover around the world and Russian officials had no place at this week's meeting of the Group of 20 major economies. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of a G20 meeting of finance officials, Yellen called on the global community to hold Russia accountable for the war and its dramatic impact on energy prices and rising food insecurity. Yellen dodged a question about whether she would walk out when Russian officials spoke, as she and other Western leaders did during the last such meeting in Washington in April, but said she would condemn Russia's offensive in Ukraine "in the strongest possible terms". "I think I've made clear that it cannot be business as usual with respect to Russia's participation at these meetings," she said, adding that she looked forward to welcoming Ukraine's finance minister to the meetings. Yellen said she would continue to push hard for a cap on the price of Russian oil that she said would help lower energy prices and maintain global oil flows after European and potentially British and US sanctions on the transport of Russian oil take effect at the end of the year. Failing to adopt such measures, she said, would shut in a significant amount of Russian oil, which would drive global oil prices higher, she said, adding her hope that China and India would see it was in their interest to participate. "It will give Russia a way to continue exporting oil ... and it will help consumers throughout the world, including in China and in India, avoid a spike in global oil prices," she said. Moscow began what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24. The Kremlin casts sanctions by the United States and Europe as acts of economic war. Russia's finance minister will not attend the Bali talks, instead addressing it virtually, a week after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov found himself outnumbered by G20 counterparts in their criticism of Moscow's military assault. (Reuters/AFP)