- Lavrov in meetings with some of Russia’s fiercest critics
- Conversations to include global food and energy security
- UK Secretary of State Truss will cut short -BBC trip
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, July 7 (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will have his first close meeting with the fiercest critics of his country’s invasion of Ukraine at a G20 meeting in Indonesia which began on Thursday.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict and a global food crisis attributed to the war are expected to be at the forefront and centerpiece of the two-day meeting of foreign ministers on the island of Bali. Read more
Thursday’s welcome dinner will be the first time that President Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister, Lavrov, will approach the strongest opponents of Ukraine’s invasion of Moscow in February, which Moscow has described as ” special military operation “.
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Lavrov had planned to meet with some of his counterparts on the sidelines of the summit, Russian news agency TASS reported, but ministers such as Germany’s Annalena Baerbock and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken they have ruled out separate meetings with him.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her country and nations with like-minded ideas would use the G20 meeting to highlight the impact of the war.
“We will make our views on Russia’s position and Russia’s behavior very clear collectively,” he said.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss may be leaving soon: the BBC reported that it planned to return to London amid the political drama surrounding the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
A British Foreign Office official declined to comment.
The Group of 20 includes Western countries that have accused Moscow of war crimes in Ukraine – which it denies – and imposed sanctions, but also countries such as China, Indonesia, India and South Africa that have been most silenced in the war. your answer.
In statements after meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Lavrov stressed the importance of ties between Russia and China to set up a “fairer and more democratic world based on the principles of international law, mainly the charter of the UN “.
He also criticized what he said was an “openly aggressive” West “seeking to maintain its privileged position and dominance in international affairs.”
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
Some U.S. and European officials have stressed that the meeting will not be “as always.” A spokesman for the German foreign minister said G7 countries would coordinate their response to Lavrov.
In 2014, the G7 excluded Russia from what had become the G8, due to its annexation of Crimea.
Senior officials from the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States left Russian representatives during a G20 financial meeting in Washington in April. However, despite early talk of boycotting subsequent G20 meetings, some analysts say Western nations may have decided this would be counterproductive.
A senior U.S. State Department official said Thursday that it was important to keep an eye on what Indonesia had proposed for its G20 presidency and “not allow for any disruption or disruption.”
Energy and food security are on the agenda of the Bali meeting, with Western nations accusing Russia of fueling a global food crisis and worsening inflation by blocking Ukrainian grain shipments. Russia has said it is willing to facilitate grain exports without hindrance.
In his meeting with Wang of China, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stressed the need to protect regional stability and resolve global issues related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“The strength of the voices of developing nations is needed to stop the war and to reintegrate Ukraine’s and Russia’s food exports into the global supply chain,” Indonesia’s foreign ministry said in a statement. a statement.
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Report by Stanley Widianto in Nusa Dua, Kirsty Needham in Sydney and David Brunnstrom in Tokyo Written by Kate Lamb Edited by Ed Davies and Frances Kerry
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