>> you are watching al jazeera. a reminder of our top news stories. nato allies say the war in ukraine is the greatest threat to security in decades. the g7 and united nations and nato have met in brussels and they warned russia against using chemical weapons. president biden: prudent was banking on nato being split. it was clear he did not think we

could sustain this cohesion. dano has never, never been more united than it is today. -- nato has never, never been more united than it is today. we have built unity with the european union and the leading democracies of the g7. >> in kharkiv, six were killed and 15 wounded when arts -- when artillery fire hit the front of a postal center. civilians are forming a long line to receive aid in the city of merida pole being distributed by russian troops. ukraine's largest city is on high alert for a russian assault.

russian warships are just off the coast of the black sea. for the most part, odessa has been spared from the fighting. the u.s. has imposed new sanctions on chinese and russians individuals and companies after north korea tested its largest intercontinental missile. kim jong-un said he personally supervised the lodge and that the missile is key to deterring nuclear war. ghana's government has taken a 30% pay cut to help with the economic crisis. those were the headlines here on al jazeera. we will be back with more news at the top of the hour. next, inside story. stay with us. >> each and every one of us has

an opportunity to change our personal space for the better. >> we do not want dictatorship ever again. >> if it could increase just a little bit, it would be worth doing. no one knew it would become a magnet for a incredibly rare species. >> we are asking women to have 50% representation in chilly -- chile. >> we need to try to bring people together and try to deal with the people left behind. >> the kremlin accuses the u.s.

of pressuring other countries to remove russia from the g20 foru this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. the g20 is a major international platform made up of 19 large economies and the eu. the members represent 85% of global output, 70 5% of international trade and two thirds of the world's population. financial and economic policy has dominated summits but the agenda was expanded to include climate change and the pandemic last year and china says it's a form to discuss economic issues,

rejecting suggestions that russia should be barred. we will have our panel in a moment. first, this report. >> this united states and western allies are exploring whether russia can be barred from the g20 summit in indonesia later this year. >> we believe it cannot be business as usual for russia and international institutions. reporter: vladimir putin apparently a 10 -- intends to travel for the summit. >> aimed at improving the economic situation and solving economic problems and of course expulsion of russia from this kind of forum will not help

these economic problems to be resolved. >>: the group of 20 was formed in 1999, bringing together economies to discuss finances. china has defended moscow, saying the summit should be focused on economic recovery. >> russia is an important member and no member has the right to expel another country. >> we have been making very strong statements about the

involvement of russia in the meeting. we want to focus on the challenges of our region. we have to have people in the room who are not invading other countries. >> the summit was away for the indonesian president to raise his countries profile on the global stage. but now they have to navigate the threat of a western boycott if putin decides to attend. >> joining us from chicago is elizabeth shackleford, a former u.s. diplomat. from moscow, a fellow at the russian international affairs council, and from jakarta, a foreign policy analyst now

involved in business 20 in indonesia. thank you for speaking to us on inside story. there is obviously division over russia being barred from the g20 summit in indonesia. how does russia view this? >> today there is ongoing debate in the world about if russia should participate. i think this is just one example of russia being expelled from very similar organizations that used to be g8. it's not really an organization, it's just the gathering of

countries which share the same ideas. >> in this case, how does russia view the possible barring? >> they said the same when they were excluded from the g8 in 2014 and it repeats actually the same narrative currently saying that g20 is not an official membership status the membership organization with membership status the membership tickets are not handed over to any country so china cannot be officially banned from the event. -- russia cannot officially be banned from the event. >> let me bring in thomas from jakarta. so does this put indonesia 6:02 -- in a tough spot because they

are the host? it is one thing to say how you respond to the invasion of ukraine but this is also a significant event for the president himself who wants to raise the countries profile. >> first of all, this is another unexpected situation. indonesia has a president that has had division because of the response to the pandemic and the power gap. but this invasion of russia causing a split, the response from the government is neutral. they say that it's not a political forum, it is an economic development forum.

but we cannot underestimate the response coming from outside. >> and indonesia has deep economic ties with russia so there is a lot at stake for indonesia. >> it is true. but again, as the president of the g20, indonesia should not be acting to defend indonesia's foreign policy but to defend the future of the g20 to bring trust. >> let's go to chicago. do you see indonesia diss inviting russia from the meeting and how would that play out? >> this conflict is going to

weigh heavily over every gathering in the weeks and months. i think it is unfortunate to try to maintain the line that somehow economic issues are not connected to political issues. they are. they are deeply connected. we would like to see this multinational environment where we can freely trade but if other actors are not playing by the general rules, you can't ignore it and pretend the war isn't happening and aggression isn't happening. so it's a big decision for indonesia and it will be a decision by others about whether they make a collective action to prevent it. >> so they question whether it

is appropriate to bring a political crisis into an economic forum. >> yes, it but you cannot separate them. they are related. china uses economic prowess all over the world to achieve political gain. just ask australia or lithuania. it is not completely separate from this type of crisis. >> thomas, how likely is russia's ejection given that there is no clear process for expelling the country from the group? >> i think the government of indonesia is trying to push the rejection away and demand that peace negotiation happens between ukraine and russia. the government of indonesia is still very comfortable -- still

very careful to see the progress. but some impact from the war is inevitable. food security, sustainable financing, for instance. we want this to be immediately solved as soon as possible so it will not foster division in the bowls of g20 itself. >> without russia's presence it would be difficult to address economic problems, would it not be? >> yes. the main theme of g20, we highlight the inclusiveness and

togetherness in this post-pandemic time. russia is hidden potential of economic growth. the political crisis is a different story but it is something we do not want to see in the g20 by indonesia. >> china's position is that it has not condemned the invasion. it has criticized western sanctions and defended moscow as an ally, calling russia an important member of the g20. >> i think that if the majority

of the g20 members that are comprised of countries which are currently not extremely favoring what's going on between russia and ukraine, of course i think that if we again recalled the example of g8 in order to expel russia there should be a unanimous decision by all members. russia had no other choice but to withdraw the goodwill participation in such kinds of summits. so it is not likely to happen now because at least we have china which has already expressed disagreement with the idea of a return of russia participation and we also have other states, india, brazil, south africa, as far as we know,

india and south africa didn't vote in favor of the recent u.n. general assembly resolution criticizing the russian events in ukraine. so they abstained. i think if we speak about upcoming g20 events we will closely monitor greek countries and how they will react. so what will happen with india, south africa, brazil, it's a matter of time and we will see but even with china against the idea of excluding russia i think the initiative is not going to be materialized. >> this is not the un security council. neither china nor russia has a veto.

there is nothing laid out that indicates exactly how a country can be booted from that g20. it's a matter of imitation. i think at least half of those countries will strongly oppose russia's participation. the invitation will come from the president of indonesia but we are not talking about a situation where something is laid out in regulations where g20 has to unanimously decide. china doesn't have to be on board if at least half of the g20 countries oppose it. and even if they move forward on allow russia to come, boycott will call into question what the organization is good for. >> how likely is it that other leaders won't come if putin shows up? >> i would find it really hard

to believe, where months away but i find it hard to believe the u.s. and european countries and other countries that have expressed condemnation of the invasion would find it easy to look the other way as though it is disney's with usual -- business with usual -- business as usual with russia. acting as if it is normal, particularly when you have sanctions and this is an economic forum, you can't just act like there are other global crises russia can be a positive player in. i think it's highly unlikely to see everyone at the table. >> what do you think the u.s. will do a particular? biden is an brussels meeting with nato. is this something he will be pushing for during his meetings

to suspend or expel russia? >> i don't think it will be the number one priority but it will be a matter of discussion. i imagine it will be a discussion of the many different ways the alliances can make their position known and make it harder for russia to continue to act as though things are normal. the g20 is based on international norms being respected. that's how the global economy works so if you have one country that is violating the norms and rules you can't go to another forum related to the same global situation and just pretend the

violations in one part won't affect every part. >> i would like to make one comment to elizabeth about her saying g20 is not an organization. of course it isn't but what i meant is that it's not going to be in the way of voting that half of the members of the organization vote against. i think in order to absolutely ban russia, indonesia can only for example suspend visas to the diplomats. i do not know how they could prevent russia from going to the event, even if half of the

members are against it. it's not going to be a vote. today we see a lot of reports saying indonesia has come under pressure from western countries and that it should think again about if russia should be invited or not but russia has expressed the willingness to come to the event and putin said he was going to participate, at least today. so to just abandon russia from participation, i think the only way would be to prevent them

physically. >> what is russia's status at other multilateral agencies also being questioned, and does russia care? >> absolutely and i agree with elizabeth about the boycott that could happen if russia goes to the g20. it could be that a lot of g20 members decide not to come to not share the same platform with russia so the impact of this forum will be less significant but the same happens with other organizations. world health organization has also expressed the idea to ban russia in the future but i think the most implications will be on the world economy and trade

because although the russian economy is and as extensive, it's a major player in the energy market and we have recently noticed market fluctuations on oil prices and gas and it could influence energy security. so i think russian participation is important for all the countries. >> let me bring in thomas and look at the broader picture about the g20. there are reports the polish government is the one who suggested russia should be replaced within the g20. it has been a long-standing goal of poland to eventually join the g20. do they see this as an opportunity to achieve that? is it time for the membership of

the g20 to change? >> there are ongoing debates we should add more countries to the g20 by talking about ukraine and russia the concerns are not coming from the high level of governments. so far what i have heard from the working groups, businesses and stakeholders are not demanding to also exclude russia in the negotiation. exposing russia from g20 will

not help solve the economic problems. so i understand why the president of indonesia is thinking carefully about the best solution to this. >> can indonesia use its leadership to resolve the problems? >> yes. indonesia was a political capital and the impending -- and the economic impact is inevitable to the g20 member state so that is why we should be thinking hard and trying hard to solve this. >> elizabeth, not to single out poland but there are other countries like nigeria and thailand that all have higher gdp's than the current g20 members. so is it time they open up

membership or reform and start including other countries? >> i think those should be under consideration in addition to the idea of should it be based on economic size or other factors like if you are a good player in the international system we have. russia after this set of sanctions is an overly -- is not really at that level. i think we should be careful about just rapidly expanding the size because it's an economic body that has an important kind of diplomatic role in negotiating issues but they should consider the fact which other countries might play a more affirmative role and if there are countries creating the economic issues such as russia with their aggressive war, we

should consider if those of the type of countries helping us resolve problems. >> all right. we will leave it right there. thank you for watching. you can see the program anytime by visiting our website. for further discussion, you can visit our facebook page and join on twitter. thank you for watching and goodbye for now.

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