NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States and its European allies on Thursday urged G20 countries to keep up pressure on Moscow to end the conflict in Ukraine which they say has destabilized the world.
Russia meanwhile accused the West of turning the G20 agenda into a “farce” and said Western delegations wanted to blame Moscow for their economic failures.
The war that Russia has been waging in Ukraine for a year remains at the center of the meeting of G20 foreign ministers meeting on Thursday in New Delhi. Russia describes its action in Ukraine as a “special military operation” aimed at eliminating security threats.
“We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine in the name of international peace and economic stability,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters. , after his speech at the closed meeting.
“Unfortunately, one member of the G20 is preventing the other 19 from focusing all their efforts on those issues for which the G20 was created,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as she spoke. to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“I ask you, Mr. Lavrov, to return to the full implementation of the New Start treaty and resume dialogue with the United States. Because, as China rightly pointed out in its 12-point peace plan, the threat of nuclear weapons should be ruled out,” she added.
President Vladimir Putin last week announced Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the New Start strategic arms reduction treaty.
“The G20 must react firmly, as it did at the Bali summit,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said, referring to the November meeting in Indonesia.
In an inaugural address, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called on the foreign ministers of the G20 countries to find common ground on global issues.
“You come together at a time of deep global divisions,” Narendra Modi said in a video message.
“We must not allow problems that we cannot solve together to hinder those that we can,” he added.
India, which holds the G20 presidency this year, refuses to blame Russia for the offensive in Ukraine and seeks a diplomatic solution while sharply increasing its purchases of Russian oil.
The G20 is an economic grouping that includes the wealthy G7 countries as well as Russia, China, India, Brazil, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
(With contributions from Aftab Ahmed and Sarita Shaganti Singh, written by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Miral Fahmy; French version Lina Golovnya, edited by Kate Entringer)
