Canada wants 'arsonist' Russia to be kicked out of IMF & G-20 over war in Ukraine

Canada has pushed for what it described as "arsonist" Russia to be kicked out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the G-20 over its brutal war in Ukraine and the alleged war crimes, according to a statement by the Canadian Finance Minister. The G-20, of which Russia is a member country, is a group of 20 nations that work on issues related to the economy and finance. Attending the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG) in Washington, D.C., Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland demanded that Moscow, now an “arsonist” in a group of “firefighters,” must be removed from both the international agencies.  

IMF, World Bank meetings 'are of firefighters': Canada's Finance Minister

“The IMF and World Bank meetings are meetings of firefighters—of ministers and central bank governors, whose job is to protect the global economy,” said Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland during an interview with reporters in Washington D.C. “There is one immediate step that would eliminate significant turmoil within the global economy, help alleviate food shortages and help with the high cost of energy in so much of the world. And that step is for Russia to leave Ukraine now,” Freeland reiterated.

The deputy prime minister of Canada, who is of Ukrainian descent, said Canada has the right to question Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion and his decision to order assaults on Ukrainian soil, but added that Ottawa cannot prevent Russia from attending the meetings this time. Instead, she suggested, that Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko must be a part of the meetings as he has been a “very important” politician and spoke “very effectively” about the situation in Kyiv. 

“Russia right now is the arsonist. Russia shouldn’t have been at the IMF meetings. Arsonists have no place in meetings of the firefighters," Canada's Freeland asserted. 

Russia has already lost its place on the UN aviation agency’s governing council as it did not receive enough votes from the countries that have been strong critics of the regime of the Russian Federation over its invasion of Ukraine. UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a 36-nation governing council that held an assembly in Montreal, Canada. The voting is conducted every three years. Several of the US' allies and partners have accused Russia of illegally confiscating the aircraft after it closed its airspace to airlines in response to the Western sanctions.

Moscow has barred over 36 countries, including all 27 members of the European Union from using its airspace. Ahead of the votes, Adina Valean, the European Union's transport commissioner, told agencies that Russia shall no longer hold a seat on ICAO's governing council. He stressed that Moscow has violated the 1944 treaty that led to the formation of the ICAO and defined laws around international aviation.

"We cannot accept that a member, breaching so clearly the Chicago Convention, sits in the very council that should act as its guardian," Valean reportedly said. "This is not about politics. It is about the fundamentals of this organisation," she told the assembly.