The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain in the Group of Twenty major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, according to sources.

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the upcoming G-20 summit in Indonesia later this year and received valuable backing from Beijing on Wednesday, in response to suggestions from some members that Russia could be excluded from the group.

The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the Group of Twenty major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, sources involved in the discussions told Reuters.

However, any move to exclude Russia would likely be vetoed by other members of the group, raising the possibility that some countries would skip G-20 meetings, the sources said.

Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia, which currently holds the G-20’s rotating presidency, said Putin intends to travel to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for the November summit.

“It will depend on many, many things, including the Covid-19 situation, which is improving. For now, his intention is (…) he wants to do it,” Ambassador Lyudmila Vorobieva said at a press conference.

Asked about suggestions that Russia could be expelled from the G-20, she said it was a forum for discussing economic issues and not a crisis like the one in Ukraine.

“Of course, expelling Russia from this kind of forum will not help solve these economic problems. On the contrary, without Russia it would be difficult to do so,” she noted.

China, which has not condemned the Russian invasion and has criticized Western sanctions, defended Moscow on Wednesday, calling Russia an “important member” of the G-20.

The G-20 is a group that needs to find answers to critical issues, such as the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

“No member has the right to remove another country as a member. The G-20 should practice real multilateralism and strengthen unity and cooperation,” he declared at a press conference.

Source: Forbes