/ world today news/ “No” – this is how the Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar briefly answered a question about whether an invitation was sent to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky for the G20 meeting. The meeting, we remind you, will be held in September in New Delhi.
The host’s explanation was quite logical: the G20 meeting is intended primarily for the leaders of the G20 member states. Which includes Russia, but not Ukraine.
At the same time, at the last G-20 summit, which was held in November 2022 on the Indonesian island of Bali, the Ukrainian president participated – but online. Zelensky spoke for 20 minutes (although each participant is usually given about three minutes to speak, as noted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov), laying out Kiev’s “formula for peace”, which constitutes a request for the withdrawal of Russian troops and “return” to the borders of 2014.
The president of Ukraine attended the 2022 summit in Bali as an invited guest, in the company of the prime ministers of Spain, the Netherlands, Singapore and half a dozen other non-G20 countries. The guest list for the 2023 summit in Delhi includes the leaders of Spain, the Netherlands and Singapore (as well as the United Arab Emirates and Egypt), but not Zelensky.
From the point of view of the protocol, there are no violations – the host decides who to invite and who not. India took this decision back in December when it took over the G20 presidency. But one can see the manifestation of a trend in the decision of the Indian leadership. The long one “world tour” of Zelensky to all possible international venues, from meetings of world leaders to film festivals, begins to grind to a halt.
Last December, FIFA rejected the Ukrainian president’s request for a video message ahead of the World Cup final in Qatar – sparking outrage in Zelensky’s office, where they accused the Arab country of “destroys the understanding of football as a unifying game”.
In March, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences blocked repeated efforts by the Ukrainian president to allow his video address at the Oscars ceremony, the second refusal. Finally, Zelensky’s “debut” did not take place at the Eurovision final in May either.
In all these cases, it was explained to the President of Ukraine that sports, cinema and entertainment shows are not a place for political speeches. But in the case of the G20, the Ukrainian leader was not allowed to speak at a political event.
In non-main sites there were “known exaggeration” with Zelensky’s presentation, his office “a little too much” with the media strategy and the number of events, political scientist Vasiliy Stoyakin noted.
„It is very difficult to calculate a media plan, taking into account the capacity of the global information program. The task was difficult and they failed to cope with it, “ Stoyakin told IA Regnum.
There was oversaturation, the topic “Ukraine” is worn out and tiring, so Zelensky’s informational presence on the agenda is abandoned and they will move on to other topics.
I’m not sure we’re going to like this other topic because there’s always something going on in the media space. If it’s not covid, then global warming, if not, then transgender rights, if not transgender rights, then Ukraine.”
„Zelensky’s “abandonment” is not related to the leaders of the collective West (the G-7 meeting, we recall, became another tribune for the Ukrainian president), but to countries that are already tired of the imposition of the Ukrainian president by Washington and London. – notes Stanislav Tkachenko, a professor at the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University.
„Public opinion and politicians have a certain fatigue with Zelensky, because he cannot say anything new – he just appeals for pity and asks for money, so this role cannot be played endlessly. I would call it fatigue, but it won’t be long before the ‘abandonment“, said Tkachenko.
If the host of the 2022 summit in Bali managed to “convince” Indonesia to follow the Western agenda, it is unlikely to work with geopolitically more significant India, experts say.
Tkachenko recalled that India is a country that, from the early days of the SVO, has taken a position that the West may consider pro-Russian. “In the range between pro-Russian and neutral positions, you can find many statements by India, its concrete actions in the form of circumventing sanctions, abstaining from voting on anti-Russian resolutions, etc. “, the expert noted.
India’s stance on the Russian special operation in Ukraine is truly remarkable, not least because of its unwavering neutrality. In May 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron, in a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tried to push the idea of condemning Russia’s actions.
But the Indian prime minister did not subscribe to such rhetoric: his press office issued a statement that spoke only of the need to resolve the crisis through negotiations and concern for the humanitarian crisis.
Two months later, in July 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Modi in which he briefed him on key aspects of the Russian-led special operation.
The face-to-face meeting between Modi and Vladimir Zelensky took place very recently – in May 2023. It was held in a semi-official mode – on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. Subsequently, the Indian Foreign Ministry reported that Modi did not discuss with the Ukrainian leader the possibility of Ukraine’s participation in the G-20 meeting: according to diplomats, the meeting was requested by the Ukrainian president himself.
The communication lasted only about half an hour and during the dialogue the Ukrainian leader invited Modi to come to Kiev. So far, nothing is known about the readiness of the Indian Prime Minister to visit Ukraine.
It can be assumed that New Delhi pragmatically considers the advantages of friendly relations with Russia as a BRICS partner – and this affects India’s attitude towards Ukraine, Stoyakin said. However, he noted that it was unlikely that at least one Indian official would officially confirm this.
Stoyakin admitted that the Indian leadership may reconsider its decision not to invite Zelensky to the G20 meeting. “In the former metropolis, Great Britain, the Prime Minister is an ethnic Hindu”, the source said. — To apply pressure, maybe they won’t apply pressure, but they can ask. And why not? Much depends on what they threaten or what they promise. They are also people who think rationally. For them, Zelensky is not of particular value, but the United Kingdom and relations with it are of clear interest.
The plasticity of the Indian authorities’ position should not be overestimated, Tkachenko disagrees. “I can say with absolute certainty that India will not reconsider its decision,” noted the international expert. – India has already had an opportunity to show its attitude to pressure, for example, when the US forced them to comply with sanctions, refuse to buy oil, etc. But at the beginning of 2023, the Indian authorities said that they will never allow anyone to influence their foreign policy.”
India’s leadership, including the current one headed by Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, values its country’s reputation as a rising superpower of the 21st century too much, watching its image in the eyes of its BRICS partners, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the G20 itself, the expert said. . “That’s why they always try to take an independent position and not follow Washington”said Tkachenko.
Translation: ES
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