A number of delegations left the APEC meeting during the Russian speech

Representatives of the United States and a number of other countries on Saturday, May 21, in Bangkok left the meeting of the ministers of trade in the Asia-Pacific region in protest against the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

It is reported by Reuters with reference to officials and diplomats. According to two members of the Thai leadership and two foreign diplomats, members of the delegations of Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia joined the American colleagues and left the hall during the speech of a representative of Russia.

Another diplomat in the Reuters commentary noted that the five states that staged a protest insist on more stringent formulations on Moscow in the final statement of the meeting participants in the capital of Thailand. A meeting of the ministers of trade in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation will last two days. The APEC includes 21 countries.

On Saturday, the Russian news agency TASS, in turn, reported that the Russian delegation left the meeting of the APEC ministers in Bangkok during the speech of a representative of the United States. This follows from the message in the telegram channel of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development. The department posted a photo with the empty chair of the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov against the background of the broadcast of the American report.

Many world leaders sharply condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine, which began at the end of February. The invasion was called unprovided by them. Over the past weeks, the European Union, the United States and a number of other Western allies have introduced harsh sanctions against the Russian economy, financial system, large companies, oligarchs, politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, as well as members of his family and the immediate environment.