The “majority” of G20 members strongly condemns the war in Ukraine

As already announced, the final declaration of the G20 leaders meeting between yesterday and today in Bali, Indonesia, reflects the strong condemnation of "the majority" of its members to the war in Ukraine and flatly rejected "the use or threat to use nuclear weapons”.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
16 November 2022 Wednesday 01:30
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The “majority” of G20 members strongly condemns the war in Ukraine

As already announced, the final declaration of the G20 leaders meeting between yesterday and today in Bali, Indonesia, reflects the strong condemnation of "the majority" of its members to the war in Ukraine and flatly rejected "the use or threat to use nuclear weapons”.

The inclusion of the term "war" is a diplomatic setback for Russia, which has always defined its attack as "a special military operation" and has refused from the beginning of the conflict to use this word in any multilateral declaration agreed in a forum. international.

Even so, the document also notes that "there were other different points of view" among the leaders gathered there and "different assessments of the situation and the sanctions." Words that show division on the matter among the signatories but that soften the message to avoid the rejection of nations like China and India, more reluctant to directly criticize Russian actions.

In its 16 pages, signed by the group of countries in which Russia is also part, the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is described as "inadmissible", a direct reference to recent messages coming from the Kremlin.

In addition, it stresses that it is of vital importance to "uphold international law", to resolve conflicts peacefully, to maintain efforts to deal with crises and to safeguard peace and stability. "This must not be an era of war," they added.

The document also highlights the "immense human suffering" and the problems caused on a global scale by the war in Ukraine in terms of energy supply, food security or risks of financial instability.

Today's statement uses language similar to the UN General Assembly resolution passed last March against the invasion, and echoes that text, which lamented "in the strongest terms Russia's aggression against Ukraine" and called for "an unconditional withdrawal" of Russian troops from the territory of the neighboring country.

On the whole, the document is very unfavorable for the interests of the Kremlin, represented at the meeting by the Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, since it reflects its current political weakness. Even so, Moscow seems to have decided to sign it before the prospect of being isolated.

Likewise, the statement also addressed multiple issues such as food, energy or health security, climate change and the economic turbulence that is shaking the world, although, as is usual in this type of event, without contemplating firm commitments.

After yesterday, in which the European conflict monopolized the bulk of the sessions and bilateral meetings, the world leaders once again experienced a hectic day on Wednesday. At dawn, they woke up to the news of an explosion in Polish territory near the Ukrainian border that killed two people after a hail of Russian missiles on Ukrainian targets.

Immediately, an emergency meeting was called with the present leaders of the G7 and NATO. In it, they agreed "unanimously" to support Poland's investigation to determine "exactly what happened" before collectively taking "further steps" and addressed the "brutal" and "inhumane" attacks launched yesterday by Russia against different regions of Ukraine, including the capital, and which caused major power outages.

At his conclusion, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, concluded that it is "improbable" that the missile that caused the explosion was launched from Russian territory. “There is a lot of information that contradicts that. I don't want to say until we fully investigate, but it is unlikely, due to the trajectory, that it was a missile fired from Russia,” he told reporters.

Russia has denied from the beginning that it is responsible for what happened in Poland, and some experts contemplate the hypothesis that remains of a Russian rocket intercepted by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense may have fallen on Polish territory.