BANGKOK - Leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on Friday “strongly condemned” the war in Ukraine and called for the “complete and unconditional withdrawal” of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory.

In its 2022 Leaders' Declaration, APEC leaders said that it “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine.”

“Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks,” the declaration read.

“There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions,” it noted.

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“Recognizing that APEC is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy,” it read.

Russia is a member of the 21-member trade and economic cooperation, but Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend this year’s summit in Thailand and just sent a representative.

Russia's eight-month-old invasion of Ukraine has caused a disastrous spike in global food and energy prices, tipping millions more into poverty and raising the spectre of famine for some.

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Ukraine is one of the world's top grain producers, and the Russian invasion had blocked 20 million tonnes of grain in its ports until the United Nations and Turkey brokered a July deal giving shipments safe passage.

— with a report from Agence France-Presse

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