Hopes for a G-20 consensus are fading as Russia balks at “unacceptable language” regarding the invasion of Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed the US and its allies for the lack of a communiqué at the 18-nation East Asia summit, saying on Sunday they had “insisted on absolutely unacceptable language regarding the situation in Ukraine.” Russia refuses to call its invasion of Ukraine a war, instead calling it a “military special operation.”

Lavrov also accused the US of splitting the 10-member Union of Southeast Asian Nations and criticized NATO for its increased activity in the region. His comments on NATO reflect a growing concern from China, even though the US alliance system in Asia does not include NATO’s collective defense agreements.

“NATO is no longer saying this is a purely defensive alliance,” Lavrov said in a speech in Cambodia before leaving for Bali, Indonesia. “There is a clear trend towards militarizing the region by coordinating the efforts of local US allies such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan with NATO expansion.”

US President Joe Biden on Monday will hold his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who was Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s main diplomatic partner. Nonetheless, earlier this month Xi told Chancellor Olaf Scholz he was opposed to the use of nuclear weapons in Europe, in the Chinese leader’s most direct remarks yet about the need to keep Russia’s war in Ukraine from escalating.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has divided the international community, with the US and its allies imposing sanctions on Moscow and providing military and economic aid to its neighbor. Other countries have balked or failed to condemn Moscow for its actions. The conflict has thwarted broader international cooperation, resulting in several multilateral meetings this year ending in discord.

Indonesia, which holds the rotating G-20 presidency, has sought to bridge the gap between the Group of Seven countries and Russia. But in the last few days before the summit, hopes that the two sides could find a compromise for a joint communiqué are fading, making it likely that Indonesia will have to issue a chairman’s statement instead.

“On this particular paragraph related to war, there may not be an agreement, but we are still trying,” Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told Bloomberg TV on Sunday. She stressed the importance of the G-20 delivering “very tangible and concrete results” on areas such as climate change and the pandemic, even in the absence of a joint communiqué.

Ahead of the summit, a Japanese government official told reporters the G-7 would insist on mentioning Russia’s invasion in any communiqué. Ultimately, while Indonesia sought a middle ground and Japan wanted to support the Southeast Asian nation’s efforts, the G-7 must maintain its principles vis-à-vis Russia, the official said.

“Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine”

When G-20 finance ministers met in Bali, Indonesia in July, some participants joked that the biggest achievement was that everyone stayed in the room when the Russian delegation spoke. The war in Ukraine still dominated talks, with the US and its allies holding on to Russia over global economic woes, and in particular already skyrocketing food and fuel prices.

Late Sunday after the ASEAN summit, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters via Air Force One that the US believes the number of countries willing to call Russia on the matter is increasing.

“The direction of travel is positive,” he said.

While Russia’s war drowned out most other issues, there were agreements on food security, sovereign risk monitoring and longer-term work on digital banking and inclusion, and climate risk mitigation. As with other gatherings of international groupings this year, the summit ended with a statement from the Chair.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who will be attending the G-20 summit in Bali, told reporters on Sunday that previous meetings had not produced any communiqués because the US and other countries “insist on assessing the global impact of Russia’s brutal attack on… to discuss Ukraine”.

“Many, many countries said the most important thing we can do to improve the macroeconomic outlook is for Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine,” Yellen said. “And there was broad support for that, but of course Russia is a member of the G-20 and there are other countries that are reluctant to criticize Russia.”

— With support from Rosalind Mathieson, Christopher Condon, Philip Heijmans, Michelle Jamrisko, Isabel Reynolds, Stephen Engle and Josh Wingrove

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