LONDON (REUTERS) - Russia has no moral right to sit at the Group of 20 (G-20) nations while it presses on with its invasion of Ukraine, a spokesman for Britain's foreign ministry said on Friday (Aug 19).

"Russia has no moral right to sit at the G-20 while its aggression in Ukraine persists," the spokesman said.

"We welcome Indonesia's efforts to ensure that the impacts of Russia's war are considered in G-20 meetings, as well as indications that Ukraine may be represented by President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy at the G-20 Leaders Summit."

Indonesia will host the summit in November and has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will attend.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Rishi Sunak, one of the two candidates vying to replace Mr Boris Johnson as British prime minister, has called on the G-20 to bar Mr Putin from its meetings until Moscow halts the war in Ukraine.

"Our G-20 partners and allies have a collective responsibility to call Putin's abhorrent behaviour out. Sitting round a table with him isn't good enough when he is responsible for children being killed in their beds as they sleep," a spokesman for former finance minister Sunak said. "We need to send a strong message to Putin that he doesn't have a seat at the table unless and until he stops his illegal war in Ukraine."

The campaign for other candidate in the contest to replace Mr Johnson, current Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, referred to comments she made in July when she said it would be important to confront Mr Putin in front of allies like India and Indonesia. "I would go there, and I would call Putin out," she told a televised debate on July 25.

On Thursday, Indonesia President Joko Widodo told Bloomberg News that both leaders had given him their assurances.

The trip would be Mr Xi's first time outside China since January 2020, when he visited Myanmar.

US President Joe Biden is expected to attend the G-20 summit but the White House has not said whether he will meet Mr Xi.

Chinese officials are reportedly making plans for a November meeting in Southeast Asia between Mr Xi and Mr Biden, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

A spokesman for the White House National Security Council reiterated that Mr Biden did not think Mr Putin should attend "as he wages his war against Ukraine".

But if Mr Putin did, Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskiy - who Indonesia has invited - should do likewise, the spokesman said.