The last time Russia invaded Ukraine, in 2014, outraged world leaders booted Russia out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, which quickly rebranded itself the Group of Seven.
Eight years later, the G-7 is still holding at seven — a collection of countries that meet to talk through big issues like trade, economics and security.
This past week, as global leaders gathered in Washington for spring meetings involving officials from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, G-7 and the larger Group of 20, it quickly became apparent that despite Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine, its membership in the G-20 remains firmly intact.
Why would Russia want to stick around when its presence in the group is clearly unwelcome to many? It has much to gain from disrupting events and sowing general discord between countries in the forums.
While Russia has been rendered a pariah country by Western states, it will remain part of the G-20 and associated organizations unless member countries achieve a consensus that it should go. That appears less and less likely, as several countries, including China, Brazil and South Africa, have made clear they will support Russia’s membership in the G-20, which represents industrial and emerging-market countries.
Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, said Friday that he had invited not just Russian President Putin but also Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Bali in November.
Why would Russia want to stick around when its presence in the group is clearly unwelcome to many? It has much to gain from disrupting events and sowing general discord between countries in the forums. A glimpse of this was seen this past week when Russia blocked the IMF’s key advisory committee from issuing a communique condemning its invasion of Ukraine.
Faced with the questions over what to do about Russia’s membership in the organization, various world finance leaders at the meetings alternately squirmed, dodged, walked out in protest or stayed put.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, when asked about the prospect of kicking Russia out of the G-20, avoided calling for its ouster. “There are clearly very, very unsettling facts we have to deal with,” she said of Russia’s aggression. But then she pivoted to focusing on the “need for cooperation” to solve big world problems.
“Make a list of questions that no country can solve on its own,” she said, “and it’s obvious that cooperation must continue.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland were among a number of officials who walked out of a Group of 20 meeting last week when Russia’s representative started talking.
Nadia Calvino, Spain’s economy minister and chair of the IMF advisory committee, lamented that the meeting had “obviously not been business as usual.”