Canadian officials, including Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, joined allies in staging a walkout of a G20 meeting in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday in protest of Russia鈥檚 involvement.

At Wednesday鈥檚 G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting, Freeland said she and 鈥渁 number of our democratic partners鈥� got up and left the meeting when Russia sought to intervene.

鈥淭his week鈥檚 meetings in Washington are about supporting the world economy 鈥� and Russia鈥檚 illegal invasion of Ukraine is a grave threat to the global economy. Russia should not be participating or included in these meetings,鈥�

According to a government official communicating on background to 麻豆传媒 about the walkout, all who got up and left did so when the Russian finance minister, who was taking part virtually, addressed the G20.

鈥淭he world鈥檚 democracies will not stand idly by in the face of continued Russian aggression and war crimes.鈥�

A photo posted by Freeland shows that Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Jay Powell, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, and European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni were among those who got up and left.

The Canadian government source claimed that Freeland also spoke directly to Russian officials who were present in-person, and said something along the lines of, while they may be 鈥渢echnocrats鈥� they are complicit in war crimes and should try to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, or resign their positions.

Reuters had reported earlier on Wednesday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde鈥攚ho were involved in the walkout鈥攚ere opposed to the in-person participation of Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov.

Canadian officials including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly have said that Russia's seat at the G20 should be reevaluated.

"It鈥檚 obvious that we can鈥檛 have business as usual when it comes to the G20. When it comes to Vladimir Putin sitting around that table with the rest of us, that鈥檚 going to be extraordinarily difficult for us and unproductive for the G20," Trudeau said of the fall G20 Summit in Indonesia.

With a file from CTV National News Washington Correspondent Richard Madan

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