Russia attends G20 meeting set to be dominated by Ukraine conflict

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks throughout a information briefing forward of Caspian Summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan June 28, 2022. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout by way of REUTERS

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, July 7 (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was on the Indonesian island of Bali on Thursday getting ready for a G20 gathering that can be his first face-to-face meeting with the fiercest critics of his nation’s invasion of Ukraine.

The G20 international ministers’ meeting runs till Friday in host nation Indonesia, which has this 12 months grappled with the powerful balancing act of operating a world summit buffeted by geopolitical pressures and a world meals disaster blamed on the Ukraine warfare. learn extra

There was tight safety on Thursday as international diplomats descended on the tropical island for a meeting the place the Russia-Ukraine conflict will be entrance and centre.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated her nation and like-minded nations would use the G20 meeting to spotlight the influence of the warfare.

“We will be making very clear collectively our views about Russia’s position and Russia’s behaviour,” she stated.

Thursday’s welcome dinner will be the primary time President Vladimir Putin’s long-serving international minister Lavrov will be up shut with essentially the most vocal opponents of the Ukraine invasion, which Moscow has known as a “special military operation”.

Lavrov deliberate to meet some G20 counterparts on the sidelines of the summit, Russian information company TASS reported, however ministers together with Germany’s Annalena Baerbock and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have dominated out separate conferences with Lavrov.

The Group of 20 contains Western nations which have accused Moscow of warfare crimes in Ukraine and imposed sanctions, but in addition nations like China, Indonesia, India and South Africa which have been extra muted of their response.

Some U.S. and European officers have pressured the gathering wouldn’t be “business as a usual”, with a spokesperson for the German international minister saying G7 nations would coordinate their response to Lavrov.

In 2014, the G7 excluded Russia from the G8 over its annexation of Crimea.

Top officers from Britain, Canada and the United States walked out on Russian representatives throughout a G20 finance meeting in Washington in April.

Despite early discuss of boycotting subsequent G20 conferences, some analysts say Western nations might have determined it will be counterproductive to cede the ground to Russia.

A senior U.S. State Department official stated on Thursday it was essential to preserve a concentrate on what Indonesia had set out for its G20 presidency and “not let there be any disruptions or interruptions to that.”

Discussion of vitality and meals safety are on the agenda within the two-day meeting, with Russia accused of stoking a world meals disaster and worsening inflation by blockading shipments of Ukrainian grain. Russia has stated it prepared to facilitate unhindered exports of grain.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi mentioned together with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi the necessity to defend regional stability and clear up international points associated to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“The solidity of the voices of developing nations are needed to stop the war, and to reintegrate food exports of Ukraine and Russia into the global supply chain,” Indonesia’s international ministry stated in an announcement.

Trying to leverage Indonesia’s neutrality, President Joko Widodo undertook an bold peace-brokering mission final week, visiting Kyiv and Moscow to meet his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts.

Reporting by Stanley Widianto in Nusa Dua, Kirsty Needham in Sydney and David Brunnstrom in Tokyo; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies

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