Moscow opposes G20's focus on peace, security; PM Narendra Modi to convey concerns over Russia-Ukraine war

Though Moscow has objected to the moves to expand the G20’s agenda to include peace and security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to convey during the bloc’s summit at Bali in Indonesia the concerns of India over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the consequent food and energy crises and the inflation around the world.

Modi will attend the 17th G20 summit, which will be hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Bali on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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“The G20 deliberations have acquired greater salience in the current global economic and political context. Coming on top of the existing environmental challenges, lack of progress in the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and the pandemic, the world is currently struggling with many important challenges,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told journalists in New Delhi.

“These (challenges) include uneven post-pandemic economic recovery, debt vulnerabilities especially in the countries of the global south, ongoing conflict in Europe, and its knock on effect, such as food security challenges, energy crisis and inflation on all countries of the world,” added the Foreign Secretary, apparently indicating the broad outline of the statement the Prime Minister might make during the summit.

India has been conveying its concerns over implications of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, particularly the consequent food and energy crises that hit the developing nations hard.

The escalating tension between Moscow and Washington D.C. over Russia’s military operations in Ukraine have already cast a shadow over the summit. Moscow on Sunday argued that the G20 should stay focussed on dealing with socio-economic problems, instead of expanding its agenda into areas of peace and security and intruding into the mandate of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The G20 is the premier forum for international cooperation on the important aspects of the international economic and financial agenda.

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The differences between Russia and the other nations, led by the United States, over references to the former Soviet Union nation’s military aggression against Ukraine in the proposed G20 Bali Declaration also escalated on Sunday.

A similar row stalled the negotiation over a joint statement that was expected to be issued at the end of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia on Sunday.

Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia, attended the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh. He will also lead the delegation of the Government of Russia at the G20 summit in Bali with President Vladimir Putin not attending any of the two conclaves.

Lavrov recently hosted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Moscow. Jaishankar also had meetings with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Phnom Penh.

Modi and US President Joe Biden are likely to hold a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the G20 summit in Bali.

New Delhi over the past few months drew flak from the US and the other western nations, not only for refusing to join them in condemning Russia for its aggression against Ukraine – primarily in view of its decades-old strategic partnership with and its dependence on the former Soviet Union nation for military hardware. India is also circumventing sanctions imposed by the US and the other western nations on Russia and continuing bilateral trade. It also increased oil and coal imports from Russia.

Modi held a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sideline of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 16. “Today’s era is not of war”, the Prime Minister told the Russian President during the meeting.

The Prime Minister’s appeal to the Russian President was hailed by the media and the governments in the western nations.