US, Russia praise G20 summit statement before meeting ends

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Russia and the United States praised a G20 summit statement that stopped short of directly criticizing Moscow over the war in Ukraine as the bloc’s leaders approached the final day of deliberations on Sunday.

The world’s largest economies adopted a consensus statement in New Delhi on Saturday that avoided condemning Russia for the war but highlighted the human suffering the conflict had caused and called on all states not to use force to seize territory.

“Everything was reflected in a balanced way,” Russian news agency Interfax quoted Svetlana Lukash, a Russian G20 sherpa or government negotiator, as saying.

“All G20 members have agreed to act as one for peace, security and conflict resolution around the world.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the statement “does a very good job of upholding the principle that states cannot use force to pursue territorial acquisitions or violate territorial integrity and security.” sovereignty or political independence of other states”.

Germany and Britain also praised the resolution, but Ukraine said it was “nothing to be proud of.”

In the weeks leading up to the summit, sharply different views on the war threatened to derail the meeting, with the West demanding members call out Moscow over the invasion and Russia saying it would block any resolution that did not reflect its position.

The summit also admitted the African Union which includes 55 member states, as a permanent member of the G20.

On Sunday, leaders including US President Joe Biden, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japan’s Fumio Kishida visited the monument to Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi.

Most of the leaders walked barefoot to the spot where Gandhi was cremated after his assassination in 1948 by a Hindu extremist and remained silent.

Biden subsequently left for Vietnam and missed the final session of the summit. The White House said it was not aware of him having held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov or Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who led their country’s delegations to the summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the summit.

“This was one of the most difficult G20 summits in the forum’s almost twenty-year history… it took almost 20 days to reach agreement on the declaration before the summit and five days here on the ground,” said Lukash, the Russian delegate. , saying.

“This was not only due to some disagreements on the Ukraine issue, but also due to differences in positions on all key issues, primarily the issues of climate change and the transition to low-carbon energy systems…”

A European Union official, who did not want to be identified, said on Sunday that the Ukraine war was the most contentious issue in the negotiations.

“Without India’s leadership this would not have been possible,” the official said, adding that Brazil and South Africa also played a crucial role in overcoming differences.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has left tens of thousands dead, millions displaced and sown economic turmoil around the world. Moscow, which says it is carrying out a “special military operation” there, denies any atrocities.

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