US Treasury secretary says Russian officials are responsible for ‘unjust war’ in Ukraine

US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen arrives for a meeting for the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting in Nusa Dua, on Indonesia resort island of Bali, on July 15, 2022. (AFP photo)

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has ranted against Moscow during a meeting that included a top Russian minister and other officials from the Group of 20 (G-20) nations.

Speaking in an opening session of the G-20 in Bali, Indonesia, on Friday, Yellen asserted that Russian officials shared “responsibility for the innocent lives lost” in Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to a Treasury official.

“I condemn Russia’s brutal and unjust war in the strongest possible terms. Russia’s war defies the G-20’s spirit of cooperation and has set back our efforts to ‘recover together, recover stronger,’” the Treasury secretary said, according to the official.

“Russia’s officials, including those participating in this session, should recognize that they are adding to the horrific consequences of this war through their continued support of the Putin regime,” she reportedly noted. “You share responsibility for the innocent lives lost and the ongoing human and economic toll that the war is causing around the world.”

Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov was reportedly present at the closed-door meeting on Friday, according to a source familiar.

In May, Yellen said that the United States and its Western allies must take a wary and united approach to checking China and its business practices. She also called on Beijing explicitly to end its relationship with Moscow.

Since the onset of Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, the United States and its European allies have unleashed a flood of advanced weapons into Ukraine and imposed waves of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow. Russia says the weapons and the sanctions only prolong the war.

Russia has expressed concerns that the United States and its allies are on the brink of an open military conflict with Moscow.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made the remark in a statement on Tuesday, warning that any such confrontation would include nuclear tensions.

 

 


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