Moscow on Saturday accused the West of destabilising the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in India by trying to force through a joint statement on Ukraine that was delayed because of disagreements, reported news agency AFP. “We regret that the activities of the G20 continue to be destabilised by the Western collective and used in an anti-Russian… way,” the foreign ministry said.
According to the report, Russia accused the United States, the European Union, and the G7 countries of having “disrupted the adoption of collective decisions” by trying to impose their “diktat” by what they said was “clear blackmail”.
Their aim had been to impose their interpretation of the Ukraine conflict in the joint statement by means of lobbying and “ultimatums”, said the ministry statement.
The ministry called on the West to “renounce its destructive policy as soon as possible, to acknowledge the objective realities of a multipolar world”.
“The G20 must remain an economic forum rather than encroaching on the security sphere,” it said.
The G20’s finance ministers’ meeting held in Bengaluru failed Saturday to agree on a joint statement on the global economy during the talks after China sought to water down references to the Ukraine conflict.
Instead the current G20 president India issued a “chair’s summary” which said “most members strongly condemned” the conflict and that there were “different assessments of the situation and sanctions” at the two-day meeting in Bengaluru.
A footnote said two paragraphs in the summary about the conflict, which it said were adapted from the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration in November, “were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China”.