Vladimir Putin‘s chief ally Sergei Lavrov faced the wrath of the world when the meeting began on Friday.
As Washington tries to get support from the world’s top economies to put pressure on Moscow On the invasion of his neighbor, the presence of the Russian Foreign Minister was an inconvenience to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
A senior US official said ahead of the talks: “It is clear that it cannot be ‘business as usual’ when it comes to Russia’s involvement and engagement with enterprises such as the G20.”
Blinken last saw Lavrov in January in Geneva, where he warned Russia of dire consequences if it went ahead and invaded Ukraine, which it did on February 24.
Some of the participants at the top were so uncomfortable, namely G7 counterpartsabout Lavrov’s presence that they skipped Thursday’s welcome dinner.
But Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who is hosting the event, urged the G20 to “find a way forward” to tackle the horror rippling around the world.
She said at the summit: “Our responsibility is to end the war as soon as possible and to settle our differences at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield.”
Taking Indonesia’s religious diversity as an example of how disparate beliefs can coexist harmoniously, Ms. Retno seemed fixated on the idea of fostering constructive dialogue between the West (and Japan) and Moscow.
Late on Thursday, she said it was important for the host to “create an atmosphere that is comfortable for everyone”, noting that it was the first time since the invasion of Ukraine that all the major world players were under the same roof.
However, the US suggested it was almost ready to share a room with a Kremlin official.
A senior foreign ministry official said: “With Russia’s presence and participation, I certainly doubt there will be consensus on Ukraine, for example.”
Washington argued that Russia should no longer be a member of the international forum, a position echoed by some Western allies.
During Friday’s meeting, Lavrov sat between representatives of Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
The agenda includes a closed-door meeting with top diplomats from some G20 countries, including China, India, the US, Brazil, Canada, Japan and South Africa, as well as bilateral talks on the sidelines.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is expected to address the meeting virtually.
Lavrov was pictured Thursday at a bilateral meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, praising Beijing but lashing out at an “overtly aggressive” West.
He informed Wang “about the conduct of the main missions of the special military operation” in Ukraine and emphasized Moscow’s story that it wants to “denazify” the country, according to a statement from Russia’s foreign ministry.
The ministry added: “Both sides underlined the unacceptable nature of unilateral circumvention sanctions adopted by the UN.”
Lavrov accused his G20 counterparts of wasting the opportunity to tackle global economic problems, saying the West spent most of the meeting’s time with “frantic” criticism of the war in Ukraine.
He said: “During the discussion, Western partners have avoided following the mandate of the G20, to address issues of the global economy.”
He said the discussion in the West “almost immediately, as soon as they spoke, turned to the frenzied criticism of the Russian Federation regarding the situation in Ukraine”.
He added: “‘Agressors’, ‘invaders’, ‘occupiers’ – we’ve heard a lot of things today.”
The global problems that Lavrov said he wanted to discuss – including energy and food prices – are partly the result of the war in his country.