India G20 Summit a Guiding Star, Prevented Ukrainisation of Agenda: Russian FM Lavrov

The Russian foreign minister said the New Delhi G20 Summit gave a clear guiding star to the members of the bloc to follow. He highlighted the role played by India in consolidating the consensus of the G20 members for the first time in the forum’s history.

“This summit has been a milestone from the point of view of giving a clear guiding star for us to follow. Another thing that I would like to mention is the active role of the Indian presidency that has genuinely consolidated the G20 members probably for the first time in its history,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov also lauded the role played by G20 members from the Global South and said they upheld and protected their interests. He said these steps prevented the Western nations from “Ukrainising” the agenda.

“The G20 countries from the Global South, our BRICS partners – Brazil, India, China, South Africa have been particularly active,” Lavrov said. “Thanks to these consolidated positions taken by the nations of the Global South to uphold and protect their legitimate interests, the West has been unable to Ukrainise the agenda to the detriment of the discussion of the tasks facing developing countries,” he further added.

However, not Russia’s arch-rival US also praised India for its diplomatic leadership. The US also praised India’s role as G20 President and the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration. TS national security adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan termed the joint statement as a “significant milestone for India’s chairmanship and a vote of confidence that the G20 can come together to address a pressing range of issues”. He outlined that the joint statement consisted of several “consequential” paragraphs on the situation in Ukraine.

The European Union also praised India’s strong leadership during the negotiations on the contentious issue of Ukraine.

Russia’s G20 Sherpa Svetlana Lukash also said that the G20 joint statement or the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration reflected balance despite the difficult negotiations on the Ukraine issue. “There were very difficult negotiations on the Ukraine issue; first of all, the collective position of the BRICS countries and partners worked, everything was reflected in a balanced form,” Lukash said.