By Aftab Ahmed and Christian Kraemer
BENGALURU (Reuters) – G20 financial leaders must condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Reuters in an interview on Friday, adding that Europe was working on new sanctions against Moscow.
India, which holds the current G20 presidency, does not want the bloc to discuss additional sanctions on Russia and is also pressing to avoid using the word “war” in the communique language to describe the year-old conflict, G20 officials told Reuters.
Speaking on the first day of the G20 financial leaders meeting near Bengaluru, Le Maire said, “Sanctions will be more and more efficient, more and more effective”.
“We are working on the new wave of sanctions against Russia at European level,” he added
India has kept a neutral stance on the war, declining to blame Russia for the invasion, seeking a diplomatic solution and sharply boosting its purchases of Russian oil.
Le Maire said that India’s purchase of discounted Russian oil has reduced Moscow’s oil revenues. He also said that more funds have been sought from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Ukraine.
Ukraine is hoping to clinch a $15 billion IMF programme that will cover immediate financial assistance and support for structural reforms to underpin efforts at post-conflict rebuilding.
On the G20 communique, Le Maire said, “The purpose is to stick to the wordings of 2022 in Bali. I think it really does embody a very clear point about this unacceptable aggression against Ukraine”.
The leaders’ declaration after the last G20 summit in Bali deplored “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine”.
Russia, which is a member of the G20, refers to its actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation”, and avoids calling it an invasion or war.
(Additional reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Sarita Chaganti Singh; Writing Shivam Patel; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Simon Cameron-Moore)
