West wants to take revenge, says Russia as India hosts G20 meeting

The Russian foreign ministry said Moscow considers the G20 as a prestigious forum for the world’s leading economies where “balanced” and “consensus” decisions should be made in the interests of all.

India

oi-PTI

External
Affairs
Minister
S
Jaishankar
on
Wednesday
held
wide-ranging
discussions
with
his
Russian
counterpart
Sergey
Lavrov
on
bilateral
cooperation,
the
Ukraine
conflict
and
issues
relating
to
G-20.

The
Russian
Foreign
Minister
landed
in
the
national
capital
on
Tuesday
night
to
attend
a
two-day
meeting
of
the
G20
foreign
ministers
that
is
taking
place
amid
Russia’s
escalating
confrontation
with
the
Western
powers
over
the
Ukraine
conflict.

“A
wide
ranging
discussion
with
FM
Sergey
Lavrov
of
Russia
on
#G20FMM
sidelines.
Exchanged
views
on
our
bilateral
cooperation
and
G20
issues,”
Jaishankar
tweeted.

It
is
learnt
that
the
Ukraine
conflict
figured
in
the
talks.

Coinciding
with
Lavrov’s
visit
to
India,
the
Russian
foreign
ministry
said
Moscow
considers
the
G20
as
a
prestigious
forum
for
the
world’s
leading
economies
where
“balanced”
and
“consensus”
decisions
should
be
made
in
the
interests
of
all.

“We
support
India’s
G20
presidency
in
its
commitment
to
promote
a
unifying
agenda
that
will
restore
confidence
in
multilateral
diplomacy
and
prevent
the
fragmentation
of
the
global
economy,”
it
said
in
a
statement
issued
late
Tuesday
night.

The
Russian
foreign
ministry
said
Moscow
shares
the
relevance
of
India’s
stated
priorities
such
as
ensuring
inclusive
and
sustainable
economic
growth,
accelerating
progress
towards
the
achievement
of
sustainable
development
goals,
reforming
multilateral
institutions
and
digital
modernisation.

“We
support
India’s
effort
to
improve
working
mechanisms
and
create
specialised
processes
to
respond
to
natural
disasters
and
launch
start-ups.
We
are
ready
to
make
a
significant
contribution
to
making
progress
in
all
these
areas,”
it
said.

“We
aim
to
work
together
with
our
Indian
colleagues
to
achieve
the
desired
result,
showing
the
greatest
possible
flexibility.
At
the
same
time,
we
will
firmly
defend
Russia’s
fundamental
interests
and
an
international
world
order
based
on
the
central
role
of
the
UN
and
international
law,”
the
Russian
foreign
ministry
said.

It
said
Russia
will
strongly
promote
“recognition
of
the
new
global
realities”
that
assert
a
multipolar
system
of
relations
between
states.

“During
the
regular
foreign
ministers’ meeting
we
intend
to
firmly
and
openly
talk
about
the
reasons
and
instigators
of
the
current
serious
problems
in
world
politics
and
the
global
economy,”
it
said.

“We
will
focus
on
the
attempts
by
the
West
to
take
revenge
for
the
inevitable
disappearance
of
the
levers
of
dominance
from
its
hands.
We
will
also
concentrate
on
its
striving
to
continue
receiving
unilateral
rent,
in
part,
through
unequal
trade
and
violent
interference
in
the
affairs
of
sovereign
states,” it
said.