U.K.’s Truss Stands By Vow To ‘Call Out’ Putin At G-20
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated her pledge to “call out” Putin over his invasion of Ukraine at G-20.
(Bloomberg) --
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the frontrunner to become Britain’s next prime minister, reiterated her pledge to “call out” Russian leader Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine in person at a Group of 20 summit in Indonesia in November.
Truss said during a leadership debate last month that she was prepared to face Putin directly and “call him out in front of those very important swing countries like India and Indonesia.”
Her office on Friday said she stands by those comments, after Indonesian President Joko Widodo confirmed for the first time in an interview with Bloomberg that both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping were planning to attend the meeting in Bali.
Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor and Truss’s Conservative Party leadership rival, meanwhile, called on G-20 allies to ban Putin from summits until Russia ends its war with Ukraine.
“Sitting round a table with him isn’t good enough when he is responsible for children being killed in their beds as they sleep,” a spokesperson for Sunak said in an emailed statement Friday.
Back in 2014, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott took a similar line to Truss a month before a G-20 meeting.
Using an Australian rules football term for knocking down an opponent, Abbott threatened to “shirt front” Putin after Russian-backed rebels shot down a civilian aircraft over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, including 38 Australian citizens and residents. But the summit was low key in the end, with Putin mostly ignored.
Xi and Putin to Attend G-20 Summit in Indonesia, Jokowi Says
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign in July following a mass revolt by ministers over his leadership, has warned that any boycott of the summit by Western nations risks “handing the propaganda opportunity to others.”
His successor will be announced on Sept. 5, with Truss widely expected to move into Number 10. The latest survey of UK Tory members by the Conservative Home website had her leading Sunak by 32 points.
(Adds threat by former Australian premier to ‘shirt front’ Putin in sixth and seventh paragraphs.)
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