The United States and Russia applaud the G20 summit announcement as the end of the meeting approaches

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Russia and the United States praised a G20 summit announcement that stopped short of directly criticizing Moscow over the war in Ukraine as the bloc’s leaders head into the final day of deliberations on Sunday.

The world’s largest economies adopted a consensus declaration in New Delhi on Saturday that avoided condemning Russia over the war but highlighted the human suffering caused by the conflict and called on all countries not to use force to seize territory.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Svetlana Lukash, the Russian government’s negotiator in the G20, as saying: “Everything has been reflected in a balanced way.”

“All G20 members have agreed to work as one entity for peace, security and conflict resolution around the world.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the declaration “does a very good job of defending the principle that states may not use force to acquire territory or violate the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or political independence of other states.”

Germany and Britain also praised the decision, but Ukraine said: “It is nothing to be proud of.”

In the weeks leading up to the summit, sharply differing views on the war threatened to derail the meeting, with the West demanding members call on Moscow to invade and Russia saying it would block any resolution that did not reflect its position.

The summit also recognized the African Union, which includes 55 member states, as a permanent member of the G20.

The leaders, including US President Joe Biden, German Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japan’s Fumio Kishida, visited the memorial of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi on Sunday.

Most of the leaders were barefoot as they walked to the site where Gandhi was cremated after his 1948 assassination by a Hindu extremist and stood silent.

Biden later left for Vietnam, missing the last session of the summit. The White House said that it was not aware of any talks being held with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov or Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, who headed their countries’ delegations at the summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were absent from the summit.

“This was one of the most difficult G20 summits in the forum’s almost twenty-year history,” Lukacs, the Russian delegate, said. “It took nearly 20 days to agree on the declaration before the summit and five days here immediately.” , He said.

“This was not only due to some disagreements on the issue of Ukraine, but also due to different positions on all major issues, first and foremost the issues of climate change and the transition to low-carbon energy systems…”

An EU official, who requested anonymity, said on Sunday that the war in Ukraine was the most contentious issue in the negotiations.

“Without India’s leadership, this would not have been possible,” the official said, adding that Brazil and South Africa also played a crucial role in narrowing differences.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has left tens of thousands dead, displaced millions and sowed economic turmoil around the world. Moscow, which says it is carrying out a “special military operation” there, denies any atrocities.

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