FT sees Kiev's support for G20 declining amid calls for talks with Russian Federation

The G20 countries made it clear in the declaration following the 2024 summit in Rio de Janeiro that their support for Ukraine is declining. The Financial Times newspaper came to this conclusion on November 19.

"The statement by the G20 leaders <...> came amid increased pressure from some Western allies on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (his term expired on May 20. - Ed.) to consider peace talks," the paper said.

It is noted that unlike the document on the results of last year's summit in New Duli, the current communiqué did not include condemnation of nuclear threats related to Ukraine or demands to stop attacks on the energy infrastructure. In addition, this time the document contained only one paragraph on the Ukraine conflict instead of seven.

"This is not the language on Ukraine that we would have liked to see," a senior diplomat from a Western G20 member country told the publication.

According to the newspaper, some European delegations wanted to include a paragraph condemning Russia in the text, but refused this demand for fear of disrupting the adoption of the document.

The journalists also pointed out that negotiations on Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East were postponed until the last days before the summit. The authors expressed the opinion that this demonstrates the wide gulf between the Western members of the group and the states that maintain close ties with Moscow.

The G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro takes place from November 18 to 19, Russia was represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In the already adopted final declaration, the participants of the meeting welcomed all constructive initiatives to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

The day before, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a press conference on the sidelines of the summit that it was important to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. In turn, the Bloomberg news agency reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intended to voice at the meeting an initiative to freeze the Ukrainian conflict along the front line.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kiev amid Russia's special operation to protect Donbas, which was announced on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.