In a press conference held at the close of the G20 New Delhi meeting, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, representing the Russian Federation, made it clear that rumors and gossip about that conference issuing any “ultimata” to Russia regarding Ukraine, the grain deal, or anything else, amounted to angered drooling at best.
Regarding the content of the G20 leaders’ summit declaration, Lavrov replied: “What the media write—I read different assessments—[in particular] by the Financial Times, that this is the West’s failure.… On the other hand, someone else, as far as I remember, Reuters wrote that the West approved a piece of the joint declaration and passed it on as an ultimatum to the Russian Federation—that is ridiculous! Adults are spreading rumors that simply cannot be taken seriously.” TASS reported that Lavrov made a suggestion. “Talking to reporters, the Russian Foreign Minister noted that the text of the declaration is available for reading"—which the Foreign Ministry posted in full, in English on its website. Lavrov also thanked host country India for its approach to the conference as a whole. “Things are mentioned there that … reflect the persistent work of both the Indians and other like-minded people who did not allow the activities of the structure that was created to solve the problems of the world economy and world finance to turn into some kind of a politicized circle.”
