Boycotts and heckling, the atmosphere at the G20 summit is heated. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov avoided much of Friday afternoon’s sessions with the foreign ministers of the twenty world powers, after a large number of representatives of Western nations condemned the invasion of Russia. Ukraine from Moscow.
The head of Russian diplomacy left the hall where the Bali meeting is being held after making his own comments, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters. According to his account, Lavrov spoke and did not wait to hear other comments, in a behavior that the Spanish politician described as “disrespectful.” Shortly before, Lavrov had rebuked Western countries for what he described as “frenzied criticism” of Russia.
Lavrov denounced the approach of Western countries to use the G20 arena for anything other than a forum to discuss major world issues. “Our Western partners tried to avoid talking about global economic issues. As soon as they spoke, they almost immediately launched into a frenzied criticism of Russia over the situation in Ukraine, calling us aggressors,” he lamented.
The Bali summit marks the first time Lavrov and his US counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have met in person since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. “What we have already heard today is a great chorus from all over the world, not just from the United States for (…) that the (Russian) aggressions stop,” Antony Blinken told reporters.
Indonesia, which is struggling to maintain a position of neutrality as the host country of the G20, already called for an end to the conflict at the opening, underlining its serious consequences throughout the world. “It is our responsibility to end the war as soon as possible and resolve our differences at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told Lavrov. The effect of the war “is being felt all over the world, in food, energy and budgets,” he stressed. “And as always, poor and developing countries are the most affected,” he continued.
Lavrov’s patience lasted until his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, also joined in criticizing Moscow for the war, diplomatic sources say. The Russian foreign minister was not only criticized by his counterparts, but he was also booed upon arriving at the summit. Some journalists asked him: “Why have you started the war? When are you going to stop this war?”
Lavrov, for his part, complained that it was his colleagues from the G7 who boycotted the meeting when they did not attend the welcome dinner offered last night on the island of Bali by the Indonesian authorities, and criticized this Friday at a press conference, the how they “understand courtesy and etiquette”.
The Japanese Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, did not attend the dinner, since “the international community considers that the relationship with Russia can no longer return to the way it was before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the deputy spokesman for the Japanese Government, Seiji Kihara.
The Russian foreign minister’s attendance at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali has become an uncomfortable presence, although certain countries such as Germany assured that they would not boycott the meeting.
Lavrov stressed at a press conference this Friday that he was invited to the meeting of foreign ministers of the G20 by Indonesia, “as Indonesia has also invited the president (of Russia, Vladimir) Putin to the summit to be held in November.” .
Lavrov was also absent from a session in which Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke and in which Blinken condemned Russia. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked him to “remember the 344 families who lost their children listening to Russian lies.” “The minister of the country responsible for their deaths is before you today to share his thoughts on how Russia views cooperation in our globalized world,” he continued.
The US foreign chief had refused to meet separately with his Russian counterpart, and denounced Russia’s responsibility in the global food and energy crises, asking Moscow to authorize the departure of grain from Ukraine. In response, Russia’s foreign minister said he “will not run” after Washington for negotiations.
Antony Blinken had previously met with French and German ministers and a British representative to discuss this “unjustifiable and unprovoked” war, the State Department said in a statement.
The United States, supported by some of its Western allies, had called for Russia to be excluded from international forums. But Indonesia, concerned about its neutrality, confirmed its invitation to the Russian Foreign Minister and also invited his Ukrainian counterpart.
