Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov not only attended the full plenary meeting of the G20 Ministerial, but he was frank and outspoken in his address to the plenary, from the outset. [https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1856527/] His remarks included:
“We stand in solidarity with New Delhi’s call to build a common future for humanity, which is especially important in the context of growing geopolitical confrontation…. I would like to apologize to the Presidency and our colleagues from the Global South for the improper behavior of a number of Western delegations, which turned the discussion on the G20 agenda into a travesty in an attempt to shift their responsibility for failures in economic policy to others, primarily Russia…. [T]he G20 Western members have never grieved at the G20 meetings over the many hundreds of thousands of lives lost in Washington’s reckless adventures in the Middle East under the pretext of national security threats that came from places 10,000 miles away from the US borders…
“We see no alternative to the sole legitimate international order that is embodied in the UN Charter’s basic principles… The formation of a polycentric world calls for recognising civilisational diversity and mutual respect for interests. It is imperative to stop being guided by the flawed logic of domination, diktat and sanctions. We welcome the rise of new centers of influence in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America,” he said.
