OECD suspends Russia, Belarus from any participation

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday announced it had suspended Russia and Belarus from any participation in its organization.  

The suspension follows a series of condemnations from the market-oriented economic forum aimed at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted a US ban on Russian oil imports.

The OECD is one of the world’s major multilateral economic bodies with a membership of mostly of rich, highly developed countries. The exclusion of Russia and Belarus will mean they’re barred from participating in negotiations on issues including taxation, international business regulation and trade.

Russia and Belarus are not official members of the Paris-based group. Russia’s accession into the OECD was postponed after the country annexed Crimea in 2014 and was terminated last month as a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The group also announced a plan “to develop proposals to further strengthen support to the democratically elected government of Ukraine, including to support recovery and reconstruction.”