West ‘destabilised’ G-20 talks, tried to force joint statement on Ukraine: Russia

Moscow: Russia has accused the West of destabilising the G-20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in India by trying to force through a joint statement on Ukraine that stalled because of disagreements.

“We regret that the activities of the G-20 continue to be destabilised by the Western collective and used in an anti-Russian... way,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow accused the United States, the European Union and the G-7 nations 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 G-20 must remain an economic forum rather than encroaching on the security sphere,” it said. G-20 Finance Ministers failed Saturday to agree a joint statement on the global economy at talks in India, after China sought to water down references to the Ukraine conflict.

Instead, current G-20 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 G-20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration in November, “were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China”.