Chief delegates prepare for a meeting on the last day of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, on February 18, 2022. Mast Irham/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Jul 6 (Reuters) – G20 foreign ministers travel to the resort island of Bali this week for a meeting that will be overshadowed by the war in Ukraine, with Russia’s assistance creating divisions in the bloc as host Indonesia tries to mediate.
The Group of 20 includes Western countries that accused Moscow of war crimes in Ukraine and applied sanctions, but also countries like China, Indonesia, India and South Africa that have not done the same.
The meeting will be the first time foreign ministers from some of the world’s leading economies have met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
PLAN TO SNUB G20 MEETINGS RETHOUGHT
Despite early talk of snubbing some G20 meetings, Western leaders ultimately decided that giving the floor to Russia would be counterproductive, said Max Bergmann, a Russia and Europe expert and former top US State Department official. This may interest you : Middletown Arts Center has opportunities for summer classes, workshops.
“If you don’t show up, and then the Russians have the floor with some really critical countries like Indonesia, India and others, then they’re making their case unopposed,” said Bergmann, who is now at the Center for Strategic Affairs in Washington. and International Studies.
Ramin Toloui, US assistant secretary of state for economic and trade affairs, said on Tuesday that food and energy will feature prominently at the meeting. read more
“The G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it support the UN’s ongoing efforts to reopen sea lanes for grain delivery,” he said.
During a trip to Vietnam on Wednesday, Russia’s Lavrov called on all parts of the world to make efforts to protect international laws as “the world is evolving in a complicated way.”
His comments before his arrival in Bali come as Russia has been accused by Western countries of violating international law with its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation”.
The reaction to Lavrov in Bali could also provide an indication of how G20 members might respond if Putin attends the group’s summit meeting in person in November, which has yet to be confirmed.
The Indonesian president, who until recently was not normally very active on foreign policy issues, has come to see his handling of the group’s chairmanship as a defining moment in his presidency, said Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at CSIS.
“Jokowi desperately hopes to avoid a diplomatic train wreck if Putin shows up in November,” he said.
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Reporting by Alexander Ratz in Berlin, David Brunnstrom in Washington, and Kate Lamb in Sydney; Edited by Ed Davies and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. To see also : Americans arrested for corruption in Ukraine: Can the United States succeed in freeing them?.
