US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that ending the war in Ukraine is the best way to solve the world’s economic problems, in an apparent message to Russia ahead of the G20 summit in Indonesia, AFP reports.

“Ending the war waged by Russia is a moral imperative and simply the best course of action for the global economy,” Janet Yellen told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with her French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire.

Officially, the invasion of Ukraine is not on the agenda of the club of 20 major economies, whose leaders are meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Moscow asked the G20 to focus on economic and financial issues rather than political and security issues.

But the war, started nine months ago by Vladimir Putin, has profound economic consequences, rising energy and food prices.

The host of the summit, Indonesia, thus adopting the position of many countries of the South, demands peaceful negotiations and refuses to directly condemn Moscow.

Vladimir Putin, who opted out of the G20 and is represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, is under pressure to extend an existing deal on Ukrainian grain exports that expires on November 19. (Agerpress)