G20 finance ministers meet

Finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 will convene today in Washington to discuss the implications of the conflict in Ukraine for the global economy.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen threatened earlier this week to boycott the meeting if Russian officials appeared as part of a broader effort to expel Russia from the G20. The host of today’s meeting, Indonesia, invited Russia anyway. Though they also proposed inviting Ukraine to the meeting, this did not occur.

Indonesia’s move is unsurprising, given their general position of neutrality between the West and China, which defends Russia’s place in the G20. Like other neutrals, they must take no concrete action against Russia, but do it in a way which nods to Ukrainian plight.

Though Yellen has said she will avoid certain events at which Russian delegates are president, American effort to remove Russia from the G20 are unlikely to amount to much. As today demonstrates, Washington is unwilling to spend its own political capital on towards that end. With Russia remaining in the G20, no action is likely to be taken by the group with respect to the war in Ukraine.

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