Russia ‘felt no isolation’ at G20 – finance minister
Russia’s delegation "felt no isolation" at the G20 meeting held this week in Indonesia, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who took part in the summit, told RT on Wednesday. Earlier, The Telegraph had reported that Western nations were seeking to make Russian officials feel unwelcome at the meeting.
"I can say it on behalf of our whole delegation: we felt no isolation here," Siluanov said. The group of Russian officials was led by the foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. President Vladimir Putin did not travel to Bali as "certain circumstances" required him to stay in Russia, the Kremlin said on Monday.
According to Siluanov, "some Western officials" did hint at their intent to place restrictions on Russia as well as indicating that Moscow "needs to wrap up its special operation." Yet, "no key issue was discussed without Russia since our nation [represents] a sizeable part of the world economy," the minister said. He also said that the summit participants discussed a whole range of issues in which Moscow plays a major role, including "energy, grain, healthcare and digitalization."
Last week, the Telegraph reported that the UK and the EU in particular were seeking to do "everything possible" to supposedly isolate Russia during the summit, which involved two dozen other nations, including China, India, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, which have not joined Western sanctions policies against Moscow.
According to the paper, the EU and the UK planned to stage walkouts during addresses by Moscow’s delegation and wanted to convince other nations to follow suit. According to Russian media reports, however, ultimately no one left the room during Lavrov’s address at the G20.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovnaya Rada, called on the G20 to expel Russia altogether by adopting a relevant resolution, media in that country reported. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow could not be expelled from the group, branding Kiev’s initiative a "political exercise."
Ukraine’s president Vladimir Zelensky addressed the Bali meeting via a video link, demanding new security guarantees for his nation and maintaining that Kiev "shouldn’t be offered compromises with its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence." Zelensky was speaking at the invitation of the G20 host, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, even though Ukraine is not a member of the group.
