US hopes for G20 motion in opposition to Ukraine regardless of Russian presence

Host Indonesia invited Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit despite US-led efforts to isolate him.

Tokyo:

The United States believes the Group of 20 talks in Bali can advance the Ukraine crisis despite Russia’s participation, a senior official said Thursday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to arrive on the Indonesian resort island on Thursday for talks with the major economies club, after the State Department announced he would not meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

A senior US official expected “virtually all G20 countries” to agree on initiatives to address global food insecurity and energy volatility sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The official acknowledged that joint G20 statements would be impossible on Ukraine due to Russia’s involvement.

“Whether or not the G20 as an entity endorses something is less important than whether most if not all G20 countries put their weight behind something we are trying to do,” the official told reporters during of a supply. stopover in Tokyo.

“You will see that we will have the ability to clarify Russia’s responsibility for some of the very issues that the G20 will be tackling,” he said.

Although he avoids Russia, Blinken will meet separately with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday to address the high tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

The official said he didn’t expect a long-awaited announcement on whether President Joe Biden would ease tariffs on China, which he said was an issue for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

Blinken’s talks with Wang are part of a series of recent engagements between the United States and China, which included a meeting last month in Singapore between the two powers’ defense chiefs.

Host Indonesia invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit later this year despite US-led efforts to isolate him.

But in a compromise, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also invited.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by TOI.News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)