Approval of G20 Declaration Failed as West Tried to Push Forward Ukrainian Issue — Lavrov

The Russian top diplomat also pointed out that Western countries totally ignored the frank confessions of Western politicians about the Minsk agreements

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/TASS

NEW DELHI, March 2. /TASS/. The G20 Foreign Ministers failed to approve a joint declaration as the West sought to bring the situation around Ukraine to the forefront, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday at a press conference following a meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi.

"Unfortunately, the declaration on behalf of all G20 ministers could not be approved. Our Western colleagues, just as they did a year ago under the Indonesian presidency, tried by all means, by hook or by crook, using various rhetorical statements, to bring to the fore the situation around Ukraine, which they, of course, present under the sauce of the so-called Russian aggression," he said, "Nothing good has come of this. The discussion, at least in some of the speeches by Western delegations, especially the G7 countries, has boiled down to emotional statements. And all of this, of course, was done at the expense of a normal discussion of the problems that really stand on the G20 agenda."

The Russian top diplomat also pointed out that Western countries totally ignored the frank confessions of Western politicians about the Minsk agreements. "The West insisted on reproducing the text on the situation around Ukraine that was agreed at last year’s G20 summit in Bali, ignoring completely our arguments that a lot has happened since then, including open admissions from Ms. [former German Chancellor] Angela Merkel, Mr. [former French President Francois] Hollande, Mr. [former Ukrainian President Pyotr] Poroshenko, and also [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky himself, that none of them were going to comply with the Minsk agreements, and the purpose of signing the Minsk agreements from the point of view of Western interests was to buy time to pump Ukraine with weapons and prepare it for war against Russia," he added.

"They categorically refused to mention this fact, which is common knowledge and with which it is simply impossible for a normal person to argue," Lavrov pointed out.

In addition, according to the top diplomat, the West ignored Russia's call to reflect in the G20 declaration the need for an honest investigation of the situation with the Nord Stream explosions. "They also refused to accept another fact that reflects the events that have taken place since then. I mean the terrorist attack against the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Our call to reflect the need for an impartial, honest investigation in the document was strongly rejected by our Western partners. Therefore, as a result of their position, the declaration was blocked and the results of the discussion were presented in a summary, which was made by the Indian chairmanship," he concluded.