The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov confirmed Thursday that no joint communiqué will emerge at the end of a ministerial meeting of the G20 in India, castigating Western countries for this failure.
“ The statement (final) has been blocked and the outcome of the discussion will be described in the summary to be discussed by the Indian Presidency “Sergueï Lavrov told the press, according to an English translation.
Discussions on the text have notably failed due to Russia’s insistence on including the need for an investigation. impartial “, after the explosions which in September damaged the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Baltic Sea. Western countries and Russia blame each other.
But the investigations carried out so far by the Swedish, Danish and German authorities have not made it possible to attribute responsibility to a particular country or actor.
“ We’re talking about good manners. Well, our Western counterparts have gotten pretty bad at it. They don’t think about diplomacy anymore, they just blackmail and threaten everyone Sergey Lavrov told reporters.
Keep the pressure on Russia
The United States and its European allies have urged G20 countries to keep up the pressure on Moscow to end the conflict in Ukraine which they say has destabilized the world. Russia, for its part, has accused the West of turning the G20 agenda into ” prank call and said Western delegations wanted to blame Moscow for their economic failures.
The war that Russia has been waging in Ukraine for a year remains at the center of the meeting of G20 foreign ministers gathered in New Delhi. Russia describes its action in Ukraine as a ” special military operation aimed at eliminating security threats. ” We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine in the name of international peace and economic stability US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters after his speech at the closed meeting.
Antony Blinken also had a “ Short interview with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, their first since the start of the war in Ukraine, an American official said. On the sidelines of the G20 discussions, Blinken told his interlocutor of the United States’ commitment to supporting Ukraine and urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend the New Start nuclear disarmamentsaid the American official on condition of anonymity.
(With agencies)