For a long time, there was speculation as to whether the G-20 would agree on a final declaration for the Bali summit. She did it. The document presented on Wednesday is a resounding slap in the face for Russia.
Planting mangroves on the sidelines of the G-20 summit: US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
A clear message emanates from the G-20 summit on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali: Russia is isolated in the group of the 19 most important countries in the world plus the EU. The final declaration, adopted by all participants, states that “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine, stressing that it causes immeasurable human suffering and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in the global economy”. The document describes Russian aggression in Ukraine as a war and not as a “special military operation” as Moscow has done. The threat and use of nuclear weapons are also described as inadmissible.
“Many members” is not enough
The final declaration, which negotiators have been working on for months, initially said that “many members” condemned the war. On Monday evening, Indian diplomats’ proposal to replace “many members” with “most members” was said to have been accepted without discussion.
In the end, at the urging of the emerging countries and the host country Indonesia, Russia refrained from distancing itself from the phrase “most members” with a footnote. In the final declaration, a bridge was also built for China by not condemning Russia as a country, but the actions in Ukraine. Beijing had insisted on this subtlety.
There was no vote on the changed wording in the round. It is therefore unclear what is meant by the phrase “most members”. It leaves room for interpretation: did countries like China and India ultimately side with Russia?
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shed some light on the matter in front of the media on Tuesday. He alluded to the vote of the UN General Assembly on March 2, 2022, in which the Russian invasion of Ukraine had been strongly condemned. At the time, among the Group of 20 countries, China, India and South Africa abstained. After many talks with these countries, which abstained at the time, Scholz drew a conclusion: “They are internally convinced that it is an unjust war.”
The lonely Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Reports from participants show how isolated Russia was in the group. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is said to have reacted with little sovereignty and with confused attacks after the speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was connected via video. He then left the room and did not return, as was said in negotiating circles. Lavrov represented Russian President Vladimir Putin, who probably wanted to avoid the public humiliation of being isolated in the group.
Isolated but unyielding: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who traveled to Bali on behalf of Vladimir Putin.
His statements show the loss of reality Lavrov is suffering from during a media conference, to which only a few journalists were invited. He accused Ukraine of unnecessarily prolonging the war. In addition, the government in Kyiv is refusing talks with Russia and is setting unrealistic conditions, Lavrov emphasized. In his video message to the G-20 heads of government and state, Zelensky demanded that all Russian troops be withdrawn and that Ukraine’s territorial integrity be restored.
«The EU suffers from bipolar disorder»
Lavrov particularly sharply attacked the Western countries, which tried by all means to politicize the final declaration of the G-20. He accused the EU of “bipolar disorders” because they talked about peace and at the same time wanted to train 15,000 Ukrainians militarily.
With such formulations, however, the Russian Foreign Minister misjudged the situation. In addition to the EU and the United States, fears of the consequences of the war are also growing in the developing countries: the heads of state and government are driving the negative effects of the Russian invasion on inflation and growth, the disruption of supply and food security and for financial stability.
The statement also says that one is aware that the G-20 is not the forum for solving security issues. However, it is recognized that these can have a significant impact on the global economy. The Group of Twenty has been the informal platform for international economic cooperation since the 2009 Pittsburgh Summit.
And the group in Bali did justice to this task: The phrase “We are deeply concerned about the challenges to global food security, which are being exacerbated by the current conflicts and tensions” runs like a red thread through the document, which contains 52 paragraphs includes.