Wyden and Warren Demand Treasury Secretary Bessent Explain Why Russian Finance Minister Attended G20 Ministers Meeting in North Carolina, Further Undermining U.S. Sanctions for Russia’s Brutal War on Ukraine
Washington, D.C. –Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the top Democrats on the Senate Finance and Banking committees, questioned why the Trump Administration welcomed Russia’s sanctioned Finance Minister to a top-level economic summit in North Carolina at the end of August, in conflict with the U.S. policy of isolating Russia for its illegal and brutal war on Ukraine.
Although U.S. law requires the Treasury Secretary to take steps to exclude Russian officials from participation in key international finance bodies, including the G20, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov attended the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Ashville, N.C., on August 31 and September 1, apparently at the invitation of the Trump Administration. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Wyden and Warren blasted the decision.
“Inviting him to participate in the U.S.-hosted G20 meeting at the same time Russia is attacking civilian targets and killing children on a daily basis is a gift to Putin’s regime,” Wyden and Warren wrote. “It only exacerbates the global perception that the United States no longer intends to impose sanctions on companies and individuals who are supporting the Kremlin’s war machine and profiting as they weaken our leverage to achieve a just peace.”
Wyden and Warren requested Bessent explain Siluanov’s presence and the administration’s actions to comply with U.S. law regarding participation of Russian government officials in fora such as the G20 by October 10.
The full letter and questions to Bessent are available here.
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