The Russian Foreign Ministry has criticized the West for “destabilizing” the meeting of G20 finance ministers in India by trying to impose a joint statement on Ukraine.
“We regret that the activities of the G20 continue to be destabilized by the Western collective and used for anti-Russian purposes,” the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
Moscow has accused the United States, the European Union and the G7 countries of “derailing collective decision-making” by trying to impose its “dictatorship” through what they called “blatant blackmail.”
Their goal was to impose their interpretation of the Ukrainian conflict in a joint statement through lobbying and “ultimatums,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry called on the West “to abandon its destructive policy as soon as possible, to recognize the objective realities of a multipolar world.”
“The G20 must remain an economic forum and not try to intrude into the security realm,” the statement said.
On Saturday, G20 finance ministers failed to agree on a joint statement on the global economy in talks in India after China attempted to soften references to the conflict in Ukraine.
Instead, the current G20 President India released a “Chairman’s Summary” stating that “the majority of members strongly condemned” the conflict and that there were “different assessments of the situation and sanctions” at the two-day meeting in Bangalore.
A footnote says that two paragraphs in the summary on the conflict, which he said were adapted from the G20 leaders’ Bali Declaration in November, “have been agreed upon by all member countries except Russia and China.”
