EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has spoken out against a boycott of the G-20 summit in the fall - even if Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the next meeting.
"We have to think very carefully about whether we paralyze the entire G 20, I'm not advocating it," said von der Leyen on Sunday evening to the ZDF "heute journal".
"In my opinion, the G 20 is too important, also for the developing countries, the emerging countries, for us to let this body be destroyed again by Putin." The interview took place on the sidelines of the G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria .
The next summit of the 20 most important industrialized and emerging countries will take place on the Indonesian island of Bali in mid-November.
The group also includes Russia, so Putin's participation is possible.
It is important to tell Putin "to his face what we think of him and what we think of this type of action," von der Leyen said, referring to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
"And then he should take a stand," von der Leyen continued.
"One thing is very clear: there will be no "business as usual", i.e. not normality."
The West will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
That was the basic motto of the evening at the G7 summit: "This is about whether the democracies will prevail or whether the aggressor who brutally attacked Ukraine will prevail," said von der Leyen.
It is also about showing potential dictators limits.
According to the politician, other autocrats would also take a “very close look” at whether it is still possible today to invade countries with military power.
It is up to the democracies to stand up and say: "Wait, up to here and no further." It is a question of whether the democracies will prevail or whether the aggressor who brutally attacked Ukraine will prevail, said von der Leyen .
She is convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin "can no longer win this war".
Russia must suffer a “strategic defeat”.