Yellen says Ukraine war is world ‘greatest challenge’

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns Russia’s war in Ukraine is the greatest threat to the global economy.
• Yellen urges G20 allies to set a price ceiling on Russian oil to choke off Putin’s war chest and pressure Moscow to cease its assault while lowering energy costs.

BALI, Indonesia: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Thursday that Russia’s war in Ukraine is the greatest threat to the global economy as G20 ministers prepared to begin meetings in Indonesia.

Moscow’s invasion has sent inflation rising as the world struggles to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, threatening starvation and suffering.

“Our greatest challenge today comes from Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine,” she said in Bali before a conference of finance ministers and central bank governors.

“We are seeing negative spillover effects from that war in every corner of the world, particularly with respect to higher energy prices, and rising food insecurity,” she said.

“The international community must be clear-eyed about holding Putin accountable for the global economic and humanitarian consequences of his war.”

Yellen said she will encourage G20 allies to set a price ceiling on Russian oil to choke off Putin’s war chest and pressure Moscow to cease its assault while lowering energy costs.

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She said a price limit would deny Putin “the revenue his war machine needs”.

She hoped India and China would join, adding it “would serve their own interests” to lower prices for global customers.

She refused to say whether Western officials would walk out while Russian officials spoke, as they did at a G20 conference in April.

“It cannot be business as usual,” she said. “I can tell you that I can certainly expect to express in the strongest possible terms my views on Russia’s invasion… to talk about its impact on Ukraine and the entire global economy and to condemn it.”

“I expect that many of my colleagues will do the same.”

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