As Western nations criticized Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s top ambassador stormed out of Friday’s G20 meeting in Indonesia.
Prior to the meeting, Washington and its allies denounced Russia’s offensive, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the closed-door discussions as a “barrage of Western criticism” for Sergei Lavrov.
From the summit on Bali’s tourist island, Blinken said, “What we’ve heard today is a strong chorus from around the world about the need for the aggressiveness to halt.”
In their first meeting since the start of the war, Blinken and Lavrov had gathered with colleagues for a full day of discussions.
The host had informed them right away that the issue must be resolved through diplomacy.
However, Lavrov left a morning meeting when his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock criticized Moscow for its incursion, according to diplomats.
After Lavrov left her address, Baerbock accused Moscow for obstructing communication with other countries.
Lavrov “left the first session halfway through” and “skipped a second session,” according to Baerbock, who was speaking to German media from the G20 summit in Bali, “which indicates even more clearly that he’s not interested in international cooperation or conversation with the other G19 partners.”
Later, Lavrov skipped a session before the virtual presence of the Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and was absent when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Russia in the Bali meeting behind closed doors, according to diplomats.
The Russian administration, she continued, “is not showing a millimeter of desire to talk, particularly on the crucial issue of how we can address the global food crisis.”
Despite having different opinions on “Russia’s war of aggression,” according to Baerbock, the remaining 19 nations were “quite unequivocal in appealing to Russia that this war must end.”
The majority of nations have made it plain that Russia must immediately stop its bombing, she said.
‘Our Western colleagues are trying to avoid talking about global economic concerns,’ Lavrov told reporters outside the Mulia hotel.
As soon as they start speaking, they immediately criticize Russia with fervor.
Blinken declined to meet with Lavrov and demanded Moscow permit grain shipments out of the war-torn Ukraine instead, accusing Moscow of causing a worldwide food catastrophe.
The Ukraine is not your nation, my Russian comrades.
Your grain is not in it. Why are the ports being blocked?
According to a Western diplomat there, Blinken urged during the behind-closed-door discussions, “You should let the grain out.”
Lavrov previously told reporters he wouldn’t “go sprinting” for discussions after Washington.
He claimed that the United States broke off contact, not them.
Prior to the meeting, Blinken spoke with his German, French, and senior British counterparts about “Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war of choice” in Ukraine, according to a statement from the State Department.
The killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a campaign event on Friday, however, quickly overshadowed the celebration.
After the shooting, Blinken expressed concern over the attack on Japan’s longest-serving premier and a steadfast ally of Washington, calling it a “very terrible moment.”
Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia, spoke to the ministers, including Lavrov, about the Ukraine war before word of the incident broke.
Marsudi declared, “It is our duty to put an end to the war as quickly as possible and resolve our disputes at the negotiating table, not the battlefield.”
According to a US official, Washington did not want to eject Lavrov from the conference since it would have embarrassed Indonesia.
However, there won’t be a family portrait of the G20 ministers, as is typical, a government official from Indonesia told AFP.
By inviting Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, to the G20 conference in November, the hosts have somewhat allayed US worries about Lavrov’s attendance.
Kuleba urged ministers to “remember the approximately 344 families who have lost their children as a result of listening to Russian disinformation” in his speech.
The minister of the nation that killed them is present in front of you today to discuss how Russia sees cooperation in our globalized society, the speaker said.
Blinken arrived at the Mulia hotel on Friday and was seen speaking with the South African foreign minister before meeting Lavrov, whom he last spoke to in January, in the same room.
The conference began with the senior diplomat of Russia seated between the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
After British Foreign Minister Liz Truss withdrew following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s departure as his party’s leader on Thursday, Blinken’s attempts to take a strong Western stance against Russia at the meeting were compromised.
She left Indonesia early on Friday, and Sir Tim Barrow, a former British ambassador to the EU, took her position, a British official told AFP.
When Blinken meets with his Chinese colleague Wang Yi on Saturday, it will be the first time they have spoken since tensions between the two countries spiked over topics like Taiwan.
While in Bali, Blinken will also try to restart communication with Beijing.
The meeting takes place as US President Joe Biden expresses hope for a discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with whom he last spoke in March, in the coming weeks.
Wang and Lavrov met on Thursday to talk about the Russian invasion, which Moscow claims was started to prevent Ukraine from enlisting in NATO.
In his discussions with Wang, Blinken is anticipated to restate the concerns that the United States has issued regarding Beijing’s support for Russia.