OTTAWA – Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Russia’s presence at a G20 meeting hosted by the United States has made many countries uncomfortable.
The United States invited Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to attend the Tuesday meeting of G20 finance ministers in Asheville, N.C.
“It created a lot of discomfort around the table, not only from Canada, but I would say from a number of colleagues around the table,” Champagne told reporters in a video conference.
“Canada is steadfast in our resolve to support the Ukrainian people. And we have made sure that our discomfort is being heard by colleagues with respect to who is in attendance at the meeting.”
Moscow remains a G20 member despite its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The G7 expelled Russia from its ranks after the initial 2014 invasion and seizure of Crimea.
The United States did not allow South Africa to attend Tuesday’s meeting. U.S. President Donald Trump has accused the country of pursuing a genocide against white people — a claim no major human-rights organizations has said is accurate.
Trump said his government invited Russia because “we like getting along with everybody.”
Citing an unidentified source, The Associated Press reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Siluanov that the United States will not give Russia economic relief until it ends its war in Ukraine.
Russia’s embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond when asked for comment on the remarks by Champagne.
“What Ukraine is facing — the escalation and the conflict, the devastation that we’re seeing — requires all of us to show great, great, great unity with the brave people of Ukraine,” he said.
Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed support for Germany after Berlin blamed Russia for an attempted explosive drone attack near a Ukrainian plane at the Leipzig airport last month.
“Attacking a Ukrainian cargo plane on German soil was an egregious attempt by Russia to weaken our resolve and our collective defence — and it will fail,” Carney wrote on the platform X after speaking with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Our support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression is unshakable,” Carney wrote.
With files from The Associated Press
