The verbal confrontation between Russia and the West was on full display as the world leaders gathered in the Indian capital of New Delhi for G20 foreign ministers’ meet. On the sidelines of the G20 meeting on Thursday, Russia and its ally, China, let out their disgruntlement over the West’s position on the Ukraine war in a heavily worded statement.
Both nations chastised the West and accused it of interfering with the internal affairs of other countries.
“A unanimous rejection was expressed of attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, to impose unilateral approaches through blackmail and threats, and to oppose the democratization of international relations,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The relations between the west and China have strained further in recent days as the US warns Beijing against providing lethal aid to Russia and supporting its war which continues to wage on even after a year of casualties.
The statement was released after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and held talks on the G20 meeting sidelines.
Earlier, at the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Bengaluru, the members of the grouping over their lack of consensus failed to reach a joint communique.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Thursday was speculating that the latest meeting will not result in any joint statement.
Soon after, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar confirmed that because of the “differences” over the Ukraine conflict, the meeting will only have an outcome document and not a joint statement.
“There were issues and very frankly they were concerned with the Ukraine conflict. There were divergences. There were differences, which we could not be reconciled,” Jaishankar said.
However, the minister said that “in terms of the outcome document you will see that there was almost 90 per cent agreement. Just on two paras we were not able to get everybody on the same page – or para.”
