The finance ministers met on Friday for a two-day meeting after the invasion turned markets upside down, sent food prices skyrocketing and contributed to high inflation.
“Russia is solely responsible for the negative effects on the world economy,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Russian delegation at the opening of the meeting, according to a US official.
She further said that Russian officials should realize that they are contributing to the horrific consequences of the war through their support for Vladimir Putin’s regime, and was supported by Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
– It is not just generals who commit war crimes. There are also economic technocrats who let the war happen and continue, she said.
Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov was present, but it is not known if he responded.
Russia calls the war a military special operation and blames blocked ports and rising energy prices on Western sanctions.
“Russia is trying to say that the world economy has nothing to do with the war,” a French delegate told AFP.
Australian Finance Minister Jim Chalmers also made it clear that Moscow must take responsibility for the impact on the economy.
– Russia’s unjust actions have had a great human price, but also increased global insecurity, he said.
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