A British Finance Ministry spokesperson has revealed that Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland and her British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, walked out during a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington to protest the invasion of Ukraine when Russia’s delegate spoke.
Before they walked out, Sunak “described (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s assault on Ukraine as an assault on the rules and norms that are the foundation of our economic way of life,” the spokesperson said.
According to the source, after Freeland returned to the meeting, she addressed Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who attended virtually.
Freeland said: “It is perverse and absurd to hear you speaking today when your war is making us poorer.
“Your war is causing food prices to rise and will cause people to go hungry. Your war is causing energy prices to rise. Your war is driving inflation, which hurts the most vulnerable.”
Russia described its actions in Ukraine as a “special operation” that is not designed to occupy territory but to decimate Ukraine’s military capabilities and capture dangerous nationalists.
Freeland later spoke about how women were “the particular targets of this war.”
She said: “Rape is being used systematically as a weapon of war by Russia.”
While addressing Siluanov by name, she concluded by saying the war would be won by Ukraine and “Russia and the Russian leadership will bear full responsibility for the crimes being committed today”.
