Many nations in the G20 major economies condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for it to end the war during ministerial talks in Indonesia, the host said in its closing statement early yesterday.
A two-day gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors on the resort island of Bali ended without a joint communique because of disagreements with Russia about the war.
However, Western nations pressed Russia over the military assault, accusing Moscow of sending a shockwave through the global economy and its technocrats of complicity in alleged war crimes committed during the invasion.
Photo: AP
“Many members agreed that the recovery of the global economy has slowed and is facing a major setback as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which was strongly condemned, and called for an end to the war,” Indonesia said in the declaration.
Jakarta, which has been balancing its neutral foreign policy stance with hosting the G20 summit in November, replaced a joint communique with a 14-paragraph chair’s statement that did not fall under the forum’s banner and included two sections on members’ differences.
“One member expressed the view that the sanctions are adding to existing challenges,” it said, in an apparent reference to Russia, which has denied blame for the current global economic headwinds.
There was also no G20-wide consensus on the global food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion, which is threatening to leave millions in developing nations at risk of hunger.
“The majority of members agreed that there is an alarming increase of food and energy insecurity,” Indonesia said. “Many members stand ready to take prompt collective actions.”
The failure to secure a joint communique came a week after Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov walked out of G20 talks in Bali over criticism of Moscow. Russia only sent a deputy minister to the finance talks, with its finance minister participating virtually.
Canadian Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland said her government protested at the gathering that it did not even want Russia to be there.
“Russia’s presence at this meeting was like inviting an arsonist to a meeting of firefighters,” she told a news conference by telephone from Bali.
“That is because Russia is directly and solely responsible for the illegal invasion of Ukraine, and its economic consequences, which are being felt by us all,” Freeland said.
“We were clear and explicit that Russia’s participation was inappropriate and frankly, just absurd,” said Freeland, who is also Canada’s deputy prime minister and of Ukrainian heritage.
She said that Russian technocrats who work to fund the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin are as complicit in war crimes as the generals out in the field who are attacking Ukraine.
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