Russia on Saturday accused US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of “making up stories” about the isolation of his Russian counterpartSerguei Lavrov, at the G20 meeting in Indonesia to “justify his own failure”.
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In response to Blinken’s comments about Lavrov’s isolation in the G20, the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, said that Blinken tried to ask his counterparts to isolate Russia.
We were told that you personally ask everyone to “isolate” Russia and everyone laughs at you knowing that the current administration [do Presidente Joe Biden] is doomed to an inglorious end,” Zakharova wrote on the Telegram social network, quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.
“To justify your own failure, you are making up stories”Lavrov’s spokeswoman said.
At a news conference after a five-hour meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the Indonesian island of Bali, Blinken said on Monday that Russia was isolated from the meeting of the group of the world’s 20 largest economies.
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“There was a strong consensus and Russia was isolated“said the head of US diplomacy.
The Bali meeting was first time Blinken and Lavrov were together since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on February 24. Lavrov left the meeting early on Friday’s last working day after a wave of Western statements condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to the French news agency AFP.
The Russian minister did not listen, therefore, to the intervention by videoconference of the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, nor the the criticism directed at him by the German minister Annalena Baerbock. Lavrov’s departure from the meeting “underscores even more clearly that not interested in international cooperation” within the G20, Baerbock commented.
The G20 ministerial meeting did not result in any concrete decision, but it constituted a clash between moscow and the west. Although Moscow considers that the The West did not boycott RussiaParticipants “expressed deep concern about the humanitarian consequences of the war” in Ukraine, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said at the end of the meeting.
Indonesia, which sought to maintain a neutral stance as host of the G20, convened at the beginning of the meeting for the end of the conflict, underlining its serious consequences throughout the world. “It is our responsibility to end the war as quickly as possible and resolve our differences at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield,” Marsudi said in Lavrov’s presence. Marsudi recalled that the effect of the war “is felt throughout the world, in food, energy and budgets.”
And, as always, poor and developing countries are the most affected,” he added.
On Thursday, the ministers of the G7 countries (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) that are part of the G20 they boycotted dinner Welcome protest against Lavrov’s presence.
On the sidelines of the G20, Lavrov met with his Brazilian counterparts, Carlos Alberto França, and his Argentine counterpart, Santiago Cafiero, two countries whose economies partially depend on Russia and which have adopted a neutral position. He also met with the heads of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, and India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in addition to being received by the Indonesian minister.
In addition to the G7 countries, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and the European Union participate in the meeting. The invasion of Ukraine was condemned by the international community in general. Since then, Western allies have enacted successive sanctions packages against Russia and provided Ukraine with weapons to defend itself against Moscow’s forces.
Source: Observadora
