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WASHINGTON (AP) __ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is facing growing skepticism from some leading rich and developing nations as the residual impact of sanctions against Russia is deepening divisions among the Group of 20 countries.
With world leaders and finance ministers meeting this week in India for the G20 summit, fractures have came into the open, and alliances are tightening among some nations that have long been resistant to the U.S.-led efforts to exact economic punishment on Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
The United States and its allies among the Group of Seven major industrial nations insist that the sanctions and a price cap on Russian oil have been successful at restricting revenue for the Russian economy, even though it grew, in a year-to-year comparison, by 4.9% in the second quarter of 2023.
Russia and China, meanwhile, have declared a “no limits” partnership of their own. And the economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa __ known as BRICS __ is trying to increase its use of local currencies instead of the U.S. dollar. Also likely to be seen at the G20 summit is budding closeness of U.S.-India ties in light of a shared concern about China`s military and economic assertiveness.
As President Joe Biden and Yellen visit New Delhi, they will have to navigate a more fragmented economic and political environment during difficult negotiations over securing food and energy supplies for developing countries.
Yellen’s trip, her fourth to India in less than a year, comes shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin said a landmark deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea during the war will not be restored until the West meets his demands on Moscow`s own agricultural exports.
Putin says that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer has not been honored. Russian officials also complain that restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade, though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.
Russia is hoping it can use its power over Ukraine’s Black Sea exports as a bargaining chip to reduce Western sanctions.
“It`s a combination of different factors that I think that makes it difficult for the G20 to work in concert in a way that they did in the past,`` said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Those factors include the war in Ukraine and nations` weaponizing currencies and commodities, she said.
“Something I imagine they can get behind is the importance of getting energy and food flowing and other food security issues for developing nations,`` she said.
The Treasury Department said Yellen’s four-day trip will highlight “the importance of imposing severe costs on Russia and mitigating global spillovers.” `
9/11/2023