The climate at the meeting of the G-20 foreign ministers on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali was chilly. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov left the meeting room immediately after his speech.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday attended a high-level international meeting with Western ministers for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a brief guest appearance at the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali. Immediately after his speech, he left the hall and thus escaped the reply of his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. She criticized Lavrov for his behavior. In doing so, he showed that the Russian government was not willing to talk one millimeter.
Lavrov also did not take part in the joint lunch and the afternoon session. According to the Russian statement, he had bilateral meetings with the Chinese and Turkish foreign ministers, Wang Yi, and Mevlut Cavusoglu before the start of the conference.
Lavrov called “aggressor, invader, occupier”.
Lavrov had told journalists, he had to listen to many accusations such as aggressor, invader or occupier. Addressing the EU and the United States, he stressed that if they want Ukraine to win on the battlefield, then Russia is unlikely to have anything to discuss with the West.
He also accused the Western foreign ministers of digressing to the situation in Ukraine immediately after speaking. They would have avoided following the mandate of the G-20 and dealing with global economic issues.
He hits a sore point with this statement. Also the G-20 host Indonesia takes the position that the merger of the most important industrialized and emerging countries is a platform on which economic developments and not geopolitical upheavals should be discussed.
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo wants to focus the talks on topics such as the global health systems, the sustainable restructuring of the energy supply and the digital economy. The Indonesian G-20 presidency is also under the motto «Recover together, recover stronger».
However, the war in Ukraine has long become a burden on the global economy and food security, although Lavrov claimed it was not responsible for the global wheat shortage. Instead, he spoke of artificial shortages as a result of sanctions. The Russian foreign minister nevertheless indicated in Bali that he was ready for talks with Turkey and Ukraine, where millions of tons of grain are stored without being exported.
«We believe in the importance of building bridges»
Indonesia faces a delicate task at the head of the G-20. Jakarta keeps emphasizing the importance of multilateralism, so that the big countries cannot impose their will on the small ones. President Widodo and Indonesian Foreign Minister Rentno Marsudi favour a diplomatic solution for the war in Ukraine. “We believe in the importance of building bridges,” she said in Bali.
Under the theme of “Building a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous world together,” the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) takes place in Bali on 7-8 July 2022. This meeting serves as a strategic forum to discuss global recovery efforts .#G20Indonesia pic.twitter.com/ZRSoAOfeZO
— G20 Indonesia (@g20org) July 8, 2022
The Indonesian government therefore does not want to give in to pressure from Western countries to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin from the summit of heads of state and government on November 15 and 16. China and Brazil also reject this. The Kremlin has already announced its coming. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, invited by Widodo, also wants to take part.
US President Joe Biden had previously indicated that he would favor Putin’s invitation. The western states had already failed with this request in 2014 after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Everyone within the G-20 group must agree to the project.