Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the G20 summit that concluded in India today was a milestone as it didn't allow the war in Ukraine to take over the agenda. Lavrov, at a media briefing, said India as president of the G20 consolidated, for the first time, the position of the Global South.
"We were able to prevent the West's attempts to 'Ukrainize' the summit agenda "The text doesn't mention Russia at all," he added. Lavrov, who attended the summit instead of President Vladimir Putin, expressed gratitude to India for "preventing attempts to politicise" G20.
The summit provides us a way forward to move ahead in many key areas, he said. Apart from Russian President Putin, China's Xi Jinping too, avoided the summit.
Lavrov said that the West "will not be able to remain a hegemony" as we see new centres of power in the world. And added that India's presidency adds fairness in global governance, and global finance.
“The Indian presidency has really managed to coalesce G20 members from the global south," he added. He also said that Russian allies like Brazil, South Africa, India, and China had made their voices heard.
Russia's Putin is expected to meet with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in the coming days and the two leaders are expected to discuss the possibility of North Korea supplying weapons to Russia for its war against Ukraine. On challenges emanating from climate change, Lavrov said that the Western powers have not kept their promise of providing 100 billion dollars annually to developing nations to deal with climate change.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced the G20 summit and said "nothing to be proud of". Leaders at the summit avoided blaming Russia for the war in Ukraine. But, they did discuss the impact of the war. US President Joe Biden praised Prime Minister Modi's G20 declaration and tweeted, “G20 can still drive solutions to our most pressing issues."