NUSA DUA, Indonesia — He was a skunk on the tropical resort celebration, shunned by many, although not by all.
Russia’s international minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, attended a gathering of finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Bali on Friday, regardless of his nation’s pariah standing in Europe and past over its brutal battle in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken declined to satisfy with him, as did a number of different Western officers. Few agreed even to pose with him for customary pictures.
But in a mirrored image of why Russia’s economic system continues to operate, Mr. Lavrov did meet straight with a number of ministers from main nations which have declined to hitch the Western-led coalition towards his nation, together with these from China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Argentina and Indonesia.
In remarks at a plenary session centered on meals and power insecurity, Mr. Blinken took oblique intention at Mr. Lavrov and his colleagues in Moscow, renewing costs that Russia’s Black Sea blockade of Ukrainian ports was stopping the export of important grain provides.
“To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country,” Mr. Blinken mentioned. “Its grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking the ports? You should let the grain out.” He famous that the United States had dedicated greater than $5 billion to addressing the issue.
A Western official mentioned that Mr. Lavrov was not current for Mr. Blinken’s remarks, having walked out simply earlier than Ukraine’s international minister spoke earlier within the session, leaving the talking position to a subordinate who mentioned she didn’t have ready remarks. Mr. Lavrov additionally walked out of a earlier group session throughout remarks by Germany’s international minister.
But in remarks to reporters, the famously sardonic Russian diplomat was defiant.
Mr. Lavrov mentioned that “blatant Russophobia” was inflicting Western nations to permit hurt to the worldwide economic system by means of sanctions towards his nation, and he blamed the United States for a breakdown in diplomacy between Washington and Moscow.
The Russian diplomat mentioned that Western nations just like the United States had been appearing opposite to the Group of 20’s mission of selling world financial well being by sustaining their huge sanctions on his nation.
“The fact that they are not using the G20 for the objective that it was established for is obvious,” he mentioned.
The Treasury Department positioned sanctions on Mr. Lavrov instantly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling him “directly responsible” for the army assault.
On Friday, he dismissed any notion that he was upset to not communicate with Mr. Blinken, with whom he final spoke throughout a mid-January assembly in Geneva that American officers noticed as a last-ditch effort to move off an invasion.
“It was not us who abandoned all contacts, it was the United States,” Mr. Lavrov mentioned. “And we are not running after anybody suggesting meetings. If they don’t want to talk, it’s their choice. I didn’t think it was necessary to start any confrontation.”
Mr. Lavrov additionally took a chance on Friday to disparage Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, a day after Mr. Johnson mentioned he would resign from his submit. Mr. Johnson had led one the West’s most aggressive responses towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“They were trying to establish this new alliance — the U.K., the Baltics, Poland and Ukraine,” Mr. Lavrov mentioned, calling it an try to create “an English bridgehead on the continent” after Britain’s exit from the European Union.
“They were saying that NATO isolated Russia,” Mr. Lavrov mentioned. “It was his party that isolated Boris Johnson.”
India’s international minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who was seen strolling and chatting with Mr. Lavrov by means of the luxurious lodge that hosted the gathering, said on Twitter that he and Mr. Lavrov had “exchanged views on contemporary regional and international issues including the Ukraine conflict and Afghanistan.” India has pleasant relations with Moscow, a longtime patron and supply of arms gross sales, and has helped Russia climate sanctions by growing its purchases of Russian oil, at a big low cost.
