US violating G20 principles with sanctions on Russia: Putin

On the eve of G20 summit in Australia, Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday lambasted the US for violating core principles of multilateralism by imposing sanctions on his country over its conflict with Ukraine.

"The sanctions and not only counter to the activities of the G20 and its principles, they run counter to international law, because sanctions may be introduced only through the United Nations and its Security Council," Putin said in an interview to ITAR-TASS.

"Moreover, they are against the principles of the WTO and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the GATT. The United States itself created that organization", he added.

Pointing out that the US Congress blocked a decision to enhance the role of developing economies in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to redistribute its quotas, the Russian president said: "The very fact that the US Congress has refused to pass this law indicates that it is the United States that drops out of the general context of resolving problems facing the international community."

"In reality, in global terms it is the United States that defies decisions being made", Putin said.

He also counselled against a return to the politics of blocs reminiscent of the Cold War -era. He said only joint efforts, for instance between the G7 group of advanced economies and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of emerging economies, could be effective in tackling current problems.

"The GDP of BRICS is 37.4 trillion dollars, while that of the G7, 34.5 trillion. What if they (G7) are told: 'No, thank you, we shall be doing this and that here on our own and we don't care how you will carry on?' There will follow nothing but worse imbalance. If we really wish to decide something, we should decide it together," Putin said.