(Nusa Dua) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday urged G20 leaders meeting in Indonesia to overcome their divisions to end the “destructive” war waged by Russia, against which the West is trying to increase pressure.
The most important gathering of world leaders since the start of the pandemic opened without Vladimir Putin in the tropical setting of the Indonesian island of Bali.
It is the first summit to be held nearly nine months after the start of a deadly war with heavy economic consequences for the planet, and the nuclear threat which hovers.
Returning from Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine just taken over by his army, Volodymyr Zelensky was one of the first to speak by videoconference to what he called the “G19”, excluding Russia.
In the room, however, was present the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov, by whom Vladimir Putin was represented.
PHOTO BAY ISMOYO, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov
“I am convinced that now is the time for Russia’s destructive war to stop,” said the Ukrainian president, in his now familiar khaki t-shirt. She “must and can be stopped”, according to the English translation consulted by AFP.
He detailed his plan to bring peace and “save thousands of lives”: not to trust Russia, to tolerate “no excuse for nuclear blackmail” in the face of “crazy threats” from Moscow and to carry out a total prisoner exchange. .
Faced with leaders of southern countries hit hard by the economic consequences of the conflict, he proposed to extend “indefinitely” the agreement allowing Ukrainian cereals, a major agricultural exporter.
The agreement negotiated in July under the aegis of Turkey, which made it possible to deliver some 10 million tons of cereals, expires on Friday and Moscow casts doubt on its intentions, raising fears of famines at the UN.
Towards a joint press release?
The invasion of Ukraine is not on the official agenda of the G20, but dominates the meeting, so much does it worry and also deepen the divisions between Westerners supporting Kyiv and other countries, China in the lead, who refuse to condemn Moscow.
Host of the event, Indonesian President Joko Widodo called in his opening speech to “end the war”: “We must not divide the world into several camps. We must not let the world slide into a new Cold War”.
In a sign of the fractures within the G20, a club of major world economies originally created to agree on financial issues, the host of the summit, Indonesia, had warned that one should not expect the traditional joint press release, each comma of which is the subject of intense negotiations so as not to upset anyone.
But an agreement was reached Monday evening on a common text at the level of the negotiators, indicated the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
According to a Western source, the document will qualify the invasion of Ukraine as a “war”, a term however rejected by Moscow which speaks of a “special operation” aimed at “denazifying” Ukraine. But it will also leave latitude to each country in its position.
“I think you will see that most G20 members will make it clear that they condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine, and see Russia as the main cause of the immense economic and humanitarian suffering in the world” , said a senior US official on condition of anonymity.
Macron appeals to China
All eyes will be on China, a great power whose President Xi Jinping has moved even closer to Vladimir Putin on the eve of war, forming a common front against what they describe as Western hegemonic wills.
Beijing has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24 and rejects the sanctions adopted by the West.
During a meeting Tuesday morning with the Chinese leader, French President Emmanuel Macron asked Xi Jinping to interfere with the master of the Kremlin to convince him to return to the “negotiating table”, according to the Élysée.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden, during his first face-to-face with Xi Jinping since his election, had obtained the agreement of his Chinese counterpart on the rejection of any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Westerners would like the G20 to come out explicitly against this risk of escalation.
Faced with the Russian threat, many of them want to strengthen their military capabilities and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Bali with the announcement of an order for five war frigates, in the name of the Russian “threat”.