In the statement by the leaders of the "G20," adopted following the summit in Rio de Janeiro, there is only one mention of the war in Ukraine.
The document has been published on the summit website.
Zelensky called Scholz's call to Putin a "Pandora's box" and stated that "there will be no Minsk-3"President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the phone call made by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Russian leader Vladimir Putin."In particular, regarding the war in Ukraine, recalling our discussions in New Delhi, we emphasize the human suffering and negative spillover effects of the war on global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation, and growth. We welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and sustainable peace, upholding all the goals and principles of the UN Charter to promote peaceful, friendly, and good-neighborly relations among peoples,” the declaration states.
Financial Times notes that unlike the document prepared at last year's G20 summit in New Delhi, this year's communiqué did not contain condemnation of Russia's nuclear threats, nor were there demands to cease attacks on food and energy infrastructure.
"This is not the language we would like to see regarding Ukraine,” said a senior diplomat from a Western G20 member country.
According to the publication, some European delegations insisted on stronger wording condemning Russia following the latest massive attack. However, in the end, they abandoned these demands out of concern that it could jeopardize the entire joint statement.
"The language is not strong enough... there is nothing about the recent attacks. But no one wanted to go too far, otherwise, it would lead to a fight, and there would be no statement,” said a European diplomat.
It is worth noting that Ukraine also criticized the document adopted at last year's G20 summit. The Foreign Ministry emphasized that the involvement of the Ukrainian side would have allowed participants to better understand the situation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan plans to present his plan for freezing the war in Ukraine during the G20 summit.