Praising the New Delhi declaration as a “milestone” for the G-20 process, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the summit hosted by India prevented Western countries from making the Ukraine conflict the centre point of its agenda. While Mr. Lavrov denied any change to military and technical supplies to India due to the conflict, including the delivery of S-400 missile systems to India, he said that India has promised Russia new avenues of investment so that the “billions of rupees” now lying in trade surpluses with India can be utilised. He said India had been instrumental in achieving a “fair” outcome at the summit, and presented the summit statement as a diplomatic win for Russia.
“The text doesn’t mention Russia at all,” Mr. Lavrov said, adding that the “Ukrainian crisis is mentioned but only in the context of the need to settle all conflicts in the world in accordance with the UN Charter”. In the eight paragraphs on geopolitical issues in the New Delhi Declaration issued on Saturday, the only direct mentions of Russia are with regard to reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a major shift from the Bali G-20 statement where Russia’s actions in Ukraine were severely criticised. Mr. Lavrov said that he had not expected the outcome, but seemed clearly pleased with it.
In a press conference full of barbs about the G-7 and EU, that he repeatedly referred to as “the West”, Mr. Lavrov said that all G-20 declarations need a compromise. “It is good that Western countries agreed to compromise”, he added.
