Sergey Lavrov left the room immediately after his speech, in the midst of a tense atmosphere and surrounded by criticism of the invasion of Ukraine
As early as Thursday, when the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting began in Bali, Indonesia, the presence of the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, at the forum was expected to become tense. The calls to Moscow to immediately end the war in Ukraine, the frequent recriminations, refusals to meet with him from Western ministers and even refusal to appear in the family photo made Lavrov stand his ground and left the meeting early. time in a hasty manner and without participating in the afternoon session and official dinner. At least this is what the European Union delegation has assured.
The altercations started almost immediately after the arrival of the Russian representative in Bali on Thursday. While posing in the company of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, someone asked “when will they stop the war?” to which Lavrov did not answer. He himself told a group of journalists who told him everything in a “frantic” way during the summit: “They urged us to stop this operation and reach a peaceful settlement, but I asked them to clarify what they really want.If they want peace talks, those who interrupted them were the Ukrainians (…), but if they don’t want negotiations, but Ukraine’s victory over Russia on the battlefield, then probably there is simply nothing to talk about .”
But Marsudi, the meeting host, said: “Our responsibility is to end the war sooner rather than later and resolve our differences at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield.” For his part, the EU High Representative Josep Borrell stated in his speech that “a rapid response to many of these problems remains in the hands of one man: President Putin, who must stop this senseless war and end a catastrophe in the world.” should avoid food and energy
The family photo became frustrated when, according to information from Japan’s Kyodo agency, G7 foreign ministers refused to take a picture with Lavrov. Apparently the initiative came from the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. For her part, the German minister, Annalena Baerbock, stated that “I cannot stand next to someone who is bombing Ukraine, attacking children, adults, civilians (…) there will be no group photo from this summit.”
In all this, the main Russian diplomat pointed out that “As for the meetings with me, the declarations that they would not take pictures with me, I did not invite anyone to be photographed. And in general I did not invite anyone anywhere. Indonesia has Indonesia has invited President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit of heads of state and government in November.
Lavrov left the room immediately after his speech. Baerbock followed in word order. Borrell told reporters that Lavrov spoke and did not wait to listen to others, behavior he called “disrespectful”. Before taking the microphone, the Russian minister sat with delegations from Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
The harshest intervention was carried out by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba, also without Lavrov in the room: «After everything Russia has done over the past six months, it has no place in an international forum. A country that wages a war of aggression against its neighbor and commits massive and brutal crimes against the civilian population need only go to one place, to the International Criminal Court.”
Lavrov was no longer present in the afternoon and missed Blinken’s speech, who urged Moscow to unblock Ukrainian ports to allow grain exports. “I appeal to our Russian colleagues, Ukraine is not their country. Ukraine grain is not yours. Why are they blocking the ports?” said the US Secretary of State. The Russian foreign minister had said that “Ukraine should unblock its ports, clear mines or ensure safe passage through minefields.”
Lavrov also complained in a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Alberto Franco França that some countries are “trying to avoid contacts in multilateral formats”. In his words: «I appreciate the position of the majority of the countries of Asia, Latin America, Africa. Whoever thinks of us, we must not undermine multilateral formats.”
Lavrov has only held meetings in Bali with his Chinese colleagues, Wang Yi; Turkish, Mevlut Cavusoglu; Indian, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar; Argentinian, Santiago Cafiero and Brazilian, Carlos Alberto Franco França. Also with the Indonesian minister and briefly spoke to his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, as they sat together, but without organizing a formal meeting.
An apparently not-too-broad agenda, although Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zajárova assured through her Telegram account that “Lavrov’s so-called isolation became self-isolation from the West.” In his opinion, “The G7’s plan to boycott Russia at the G20 has failed. No one supported Western regimes.”
Source: La Verdad
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