Lavrov leaves G20 talks early after denying Russia is causing food crisis
The Russian foreign minister left the G20 meeting of leading economies early after telling his counterparts that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was not responsible for a global hunger crisis and that sanctions designed to isolate Russia amounted to a declaration of war.
The gathering on Friday was Sergei Lavrov’s first direct confrontation with leaders from the west since Russia mounted its attack on Ukraine, and he accused the west of frenzied criticism of what he claimed were Moscow’s justified actions.
In a stern if brief lecture at the meeting in Bali hosted by Indonesia, this year’s chair of the G20, Lavrov said: “If the west doesn’t want talks to take place but wishes for Ukraine to defeat Russia on the battlefield – because both views have been expressed – then perhaps there is nothing to talk about with the west.”
Lavrov, sitting at the meeting between Saudi Arabia and Mexico, also accused the west of pressing Ukraine to “use its weapons” in the fighting. He walked out at the point when the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, was starting to speak.
Afterwards he said he had come to Bali to get an impression “of how the west breathes”. It had been obvious that the west did not use the G20 for the purposes for which it was created, Lavrov said. Participants from developing countries did not support this approach, he claimed.
“Aggressors, invaders, occupants. We’ve heard quite a few such things today,” he said while describing the speeches made by his western counterparts. He said some of the speeches were made for theatrical effect, citing Boris Johnson as a prime example. “Well, he resigned, and so be it,” Lavrov said. “Everyone said Russia must be isolated. But so far his own party has isolated Boris Johnson.”
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