China joined Russia in refusing to sign a statement from the G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi that called for Russia to cease hostilities in Ukraine – the second gathering of the bloc to fail to reach an accord in a week.
Diplomats from the Group of 20 leading economies – the world’s 19 largest economies, plus the European Union – ended their meeting in New Delhi on Thursday with no consensus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters at the conclusion of the meeting that “there were divergences” over the war in Ukraine “which we couldn't reconcile, as various parties held differing views".
“If we had a perfect meeting of minds on all issues, it would have been a collective statement,” he said, adding that members agreed on most issues involving the concerns of less-developed nations, like promoting food and energy security, climate change and counterterrorism.
China, Russia refuse to condemn war
China and Russia objected to two paragraphs taken from the last G20 declaration in Bali in July of last year, which stated the war in Ukraine was causing suffering and exacerbating fragilities, and calling on Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine".
"I want to apologise to the Indian presidency and to our colleagues from countries of the global South for the obscene behaviour of some Western delegations, which have turned the G20's agenda into a farce," Russian Foreign Minsiter Sergei Lavrov said, according to Russian news agency TASS.
India had appealed for all G20 members to reach a consensus on issues of particular concern to poorer countries.
India calls for consensus
“We are meeting at a time of deep global divisions,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told participants in a video address, acknowledging that the discussions would be “affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day.”
“We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved,” he said. “We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can.”
Last week’s G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Bengaluru ended similarly, with India issuing a chair’s summary because Russia and China objected to a joint communique that retained language from the Bali meeting in July of last year.
On the sidelines of the meeting in New Delhi, Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke briefly – the highest level face-to-face contact between the two countries since the start of Russia’s invasion a year ago.
The two both attended the G20 in Bali, which Lavrov walked out of.
Russian diplomatic spokesperson Maria Zakharova downplayed the significance of the meeting in New Delhi, telling state news agency RIA Novosti that Blinken had initiated it and that it had been fleeting.
(with wires)
