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When finance ministers walked out on Russia
Summary
A look back at the G20 walkout in Washington and Germany's pledge to end Russian energy imports, as the war's new offensive in the east unfolded.
What does it look like when a country is sidelined in real time? On 20 April 2022, finance ministers from the United States and many European countries left a closed G20 session in Washington as Russia's finance minister, Anton Siluanov, began reading his prepared remarks virtually, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
The walkout followed a call by the US president, Joe Biden, to exclude Russia from the G20. Such a step requires the agreement of all members, and China appeared not to approve of it.
Beijing signals its position
China's stance had been signalled a day earlier. On 19 April 2022, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng confirmed Beijing's support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and said China would strengthen its strategic ties with Moscow, even as Russia's armed forces faced accusations of war crimes over the killing of civilians.
Germany sets a deadline
The same day brought a statement on energy. Speaking at a press conference in Riga alongside the foreign ministers of the Baltic states, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Germany would give up Russian energy imports entirely. Oil imports, she said, would be halved by summer and then brought to zero by the end of the year.
The war in the east
The diplomacy unfolded against continuing fighting. On 18 April 2022, amid a new Russian offensive, Russian forces stepped up attacks on strategic cities including Mykolaiv, Mariupol, Kherson, Izium and Sloviansk. That day a Russian missile strike on Lviv killed at least seven people and wounded 11. The head of the regional military administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, said missiles hit three military targets, while a fourth struck a tyre-fitting workshop.
Planning for reconstruction
Also on 18 April 2022, European Union officials said the bloc planned a solidarity trust fund to cover the main share of post-war reconstruction costs. Details were to be discussed at senior level in Brussels and Washington, they said, to make sure that such a large sum of money was not misused.
Taken together, the reports from 18 to 20 April 2022 show pressure on Russia building on several fronts at once: in a multilateral forum, in European energy policy and in early planning for rebuilding Ukraine, while China's backing for Moscow limited how far some of those measures could go.
