by Sarita Chaganti Singh and Christian Kraemer
BANGALORE (Reuters) – Most finance ministers from the world’s biggest economies on Saturday strongly condemned Moscow for its war on Ukraine, except for China and Russia who refused to sign a joint statement.
India, the current chair of the G20, was reluctant to raise the issue of war, but Western countries have insisted on the importance of a common condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls for its part of “special operation”.
The lack of consensus led India to release a “chairman’s summary” evoking the two days of talks and noting the disagreements.
“Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy,” reads the document, which refers to the disruption of supply chains. supply, risks to financial stability, energy and food insecurity.
“There were other points of view and different assessments of the situation and the sanctions,” the Indian presidency added, referring to the sanctions imposed on Russia by many countries, including the United States and European countries.
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said it was “regrettable” that China was preventing the publication of a joint statement. “But for me it was more important that everyone else adhered to a clear position on international law, multilateralism and an end to war,” he added.
The outcome of the Bangalore meeting is reminiscent of last November’s G20 summit in Bali, which saw Indonesia also issue a final statement mentioning differences between members. Set up to better deal with economic crises, the G20 is finding it increasingly difficult to reach a consensus at each of its meetings.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters it was “absolutely necessary” for a final statement condemning Russia. Two delegates told Reuters that Russia and China do not want the G20 to be used to talk politics.
Russia, a member of the G20 but not of the G7, avoids talking about invasion or war.
India has maintained a neutral position, refusing to condemn Russia with the aim of seeking a diplomatic solution while sharply increasing its purchases of Russian oil.
China and India abstained Thursday during the vote at the UN, by an overwhelming majority, of a text demanding that Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine and stop the fighting.
Besides the G7 countries, the G20 bloc includes countries like Australia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
(Reporting Shivam Patel, Christian Kraemer, Shivangi Acharya, Aftab Ahmed and Sarita Chaganti Singh, written by Raju Gopalakrishnan; French version Camille Raynaud and Elizabeth Pineau)
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