Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that Russia cannot be a constructive partner in the G20, which is composed by most of the world’s largest economies, because of its invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Trudeau said G20 leaders were having conversations about Russia’s presence in the G20 because the Ukraine invasion has “upended economic growth for everyone around the world and can’t possibly be a constructive partner.”
Russia’s war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has stalled on most fronts. Russia has failed to capture a single major Ukrainian city, seize the capital Kyiv or swiftly topple Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.
Russia calls the war, which is the biggest attack on a European state since the Second World War, a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from “Nazis.”
The West describes it as a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression to subdue a country Russian President Vladimir Putin describes as illegitimate.