---
title: "Sunak takes aim at Putin, urging end to loopholes, at G20 debut"
description: "UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to call for the Group of 20 summit to help end the war in Ukraine by closing loopholes exploited by Russian President Vladimir Putin for years."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Business Maverick"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-11-14-sunak-takes-aim-at-putin-urging-end-to-loopholes-at-g20-debut/"
published: "2022-11-14T06:19:25"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 287
---

# Sunak takes aim at Putin, urging end to loopholes, at G20 debut

> UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to call for the Group of 20 summit to help end the war in Ukraine by closing loopholes exploited by Russian President Vladimir Putin for years.

By Bloomberg · Published 14 November 2022, 08:19 SAST

## Content

In his second major international gathering since taking over as prime minister, Sunak will push for global action to bring down the cost of living, boost global trade, prevent starvation and end the war.

He arrives in Bali, Indonesia, on Monday for the meeting of leaders of the world’s biggest economies. It will be the first time a UK premier has met a Russian representative since the invasion in February.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is attending the talks instead of Putin. Sunak said he will use the opportunity “to call out Putin’s barbarism and force Russia to confront the global suffering caused by this senseless campaign of violence”.

Russia has exploited Europe’s dependency on Russian gas and Ukraine’s critical food supplies as leverage against sanctions and as a form of economic warfare.

Sunak said the global community needs to take action “to support the global food trade to save lives at risk of starvation”, including renewing the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a safe food corridor from Ukrainian ports, on 19 November.

He called for a “G20-wide commitment never to weaponise food production and distribution”.

Reform of the World Trade Organisation to boost bilateral trade could also “release the opportunities of the 21st century while tackling the manipulation of global markets by malign actors”.

The West needs to “end Russia’s stranglehold over international energy prices” in part by unlocking investment for the green transition, he added.

Sunak also made a thinly veiled attack on China, which has declined to distance itself from Russia, over its so-called debt trap diplomacy in Africa and other low income nations.

He said leaders need to provide “honest, reliable finance to help developing countries… an alternative to borrowing from exploitative sources”.**BM/DM**