MOSCOW (Dispatches) - Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday ahead of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Brazil that the inclusion of the topic of Ukraine at the Group of 20 meetings is destructive and the politicization of the Group is unacceptable.
Foreign ministers from the G20 major economies met in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday at their first meeting of the year, presided over by Brazil.
According to the G20 Brazil website, the group is to discuss among others, “the situation in the Middle East and the Russia, Ukrainewar, which continue to generate global concern over the humanitarian crisis and the geopolitical and economic consequences of the conflicts.”
Russia said that the topic of Ukraine is “non-core” for the G20.
“The Russian delegation intends to draw special attention of partners to the unacceptability of politicization of the G20, which, according to its mandate, is designed to focus strictly on socio-economic challenges,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
“The inclusion of non-core issues, including the Ukrainian issue, on the G20 agenda at the instigation of the West is destructive.”
Russia which has since been sanctioned heavily by many of the G20 nations, blames the United States and its allies for “pumping up” Kyiv with weapons and cash.
Lavrov travelled to Brazil for the meet, which is to be attended also by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, although no meeting has been scheduled between the two.
The G20 at its last leaders summit in September did not condemn Moscow for the war in Ukraine but called on members to shun the use of force, with Lavrov praising the consensus and Kyiv’s allies saying the G20 confirmed Russia’s isolation.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, EU members approved a 13th package of Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, banning nearly 200 entities and individuals accused of helping Moscow procure weapons.
“EU Ambassadors just agreed in principle on a 13th package of sanctions in the framework of Russia’s operation in Ukraine,” Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said on social media platform X, calling it “one of the broadest approved by the EU”.
The new package will see 193 entities and individuals added to the list of those banned from traveling to the EU or doing business there, but no fresh measures against specific economic sectors, EU diplomatic sources said.
Across the European Union, support for Ukraine remains high, but authors of the study say politicians should focus on defining an acceptable peace.
Only one in ten Europeans believe that Ukraine can defeat Russia, according to an EU-wide poll.
Conducted across 12 EU countries - including France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden - the survey found that pessimism about the war’s outcome was being fuelled by Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive, a potential U.S. policy shift and the possibility of Donald Trump getting into the White House.
Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said that the West’s attempts to talk to Moscow from the position of strength will lead nowhere,
“There is no prospect of talking to our country from the position of strength and sanctions pressure. The persistent desire to dominate only leads to the opposite effect,” he said, TASS reported.
“The earlier America realizes this, the sooner the world will have a chance to return to a stable, sustainable and predictable path of development,” he pointed out in an op-ed for Newsweek.
According to Antonov, Washington’s strategy towards Russia “in essence is little different from military confrontation.”
“The liberation of cities, first and foremost Mariupol, Artyomovsk and Avdeevka, are clear signs of (Ukraine’s) agony and the failure of the West’s anti-Russian policy,” the Russian envoy stressed.