Putin noted the unprecedented scale of the problems associated with the pandemic

“The scale of the challenges facing humanity in 2020 is truly unprecedented.

The coronavirus epidemic, the global lockdown and the freezing of economic activity launched a systemic economic crisis that the modern world has not yet known since the Great Depression, ”Putin said.

He noted that the pandemic claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and millions of people around the world lost their income.

"The main risk remains massive long-term, so-called stagnant mass unemployment with a subsequent increase in poverty and social disorder," the Russian leader added.

He stressed that the role of the G20 is to prevent such a development of events.

Earlier, during his speech at the APEC summit, Putin said that due to the decline in industrial production and financial turmoil, tens of millions of people in the world are at risk of falling into poverty.