Not your agenda: the West failed to Ukrainianize the G20 foreign ministers' meeting

The G20 foreign ministers have welcomed the resumption of dialog between Moscow and Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a meeting in Johannesburg. Representatives of the West who tried to "Ukrainianize" the agenda of the event failed once again, he told Izvestia. Contrary to their efforts, the meeting, as planned, was devoted to the urgent problems of forming a multipolar world, under the pressure of which the era of Western dominance is becoming a thing of the past. At the same time, Sergey Lavrov acknowledged that despite the disagreements, the G20 retains the role of a platform for dialogue between old and new centers of power. The meeting, he said, made a useful contribution to the preparation of the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November this year.

Sergey Lavrov summarized the results of the G20Foreign Ministers' meeting

On February 21, the G20 foreign ministers' meeting ended in Johannesburg. Russia was traditionally represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Expectedly, the main topic of the final press conference was Ukraine. At the same time, Sergey Lavrov noted that this agenda did not overshadow the main tasks of the G20.

Answering a question from Izvestia correspondent Anton Zolotnitsky about the West's efforts to "torpedo" the G20, the minister clarified that, on the contrary, it was the previous attempts of Western leaders to Ukrainianize the G20 agenda that were "torpedoed by the other participants of this association".

- As a positive note, I would like to point out that these inserts (devoted to geopolitical problems - Ed.) in the declarations of the G20 leaders did not affect the essence of economic discussions and the agreements, generally speaking, which are in line with the interests of forming a multipolar world, which are formulated in these documents," he said.

"G20" as a whole retains the role of a platform for dialogue between old and new centers of power, the minister said. At the same time, he noted that the period of Western dominance is irrevocably fading into the past, giving way to true multipolarity. Thus, according to his estimates, in 2022 the BRICS will surpass the G7 countries in terms of GDP. Currently, the BRICS account for 37% of the world economy, while the G7 countries account for 29%. At the same time, he said, many problems remain, and most participants in the Johannesburg meeting recognized the extremely low probability that the UN-endorsed 2030 Sustainable Development Goals will be met.

The minister called attempts to isolate Russia and prevent it from taking its rightful place in the world "tragicomic". Both in the post-Soviet space and in other parts of the world, the West maintains its "confrontational attitude" towards Russia, which hides "the desire not to let anyone escape from the influence of Western countries." Therefore, it is not surprising that the recent resumption of dialog between Washington and Moscow was perceived by the leadership of the European Union and NATO as a "betrayal of Western interests."

Meanwhile, according to the minister, not all NATO and EU members take this position and "want to spend money on arming Ukraine," subordinating the alliance and the European community to "Mr. Zelensky's wishes." In any case, as Lavrov said, all G20 participants welcomed the meeting of the U.S. and Russian delegations in Riyadh, which took place on February 18.

- Everyone understands that this is not the end of the era of confrontation between Russia and the West, but the fact that the beginning of the conversation is in itself a return to normality - this is recognized and welcomed by absolutely everyone," he added.

Citing the confidentiality of diplomatic processes, Sergey Lavrov refused to specify what issues are being worked out for a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

The latter, in turn, said in an interview with Fox News on February 21 that he saw no point in Vladimir Zelensky's participation in the negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement. According to Trump, "he has shown himself very poorly in the role of negotiator" and does not have "cards up his sleeve". Moreover, the US President said that he does not see Russia's fault in the emergence of the conflict in Ukraine, he puts the responsibility for what is happening on Zelensky and Biden.

Who was present at the G20 meeting in Johannesburg

As for the United States, the head of the State Department Marco Rubio decided to ignore the meeting in Johannesburg, citing the fact that he does not share the policy of South Africa. In particular, Washington is dissatisfied with the recently adopted law on expropriation of land from white farmers. Nor does the US like South Africa's position on Israel and Iran. German and Italian Foreign Ministers Annalena Berbock and Antonio Tajani did not fly to South Africa either.

Thus, the position of the West was expressed by the heads of diplomacy of Great Britain, France and Canada, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas. The latter avoided the Russian media in every possible way. Tellingly, the planned group photo was canceled because, according to Agence France-Presse, "several countries did not wish to appear next to Lavrov." Meanwhile, representatives of a number of non-G20 countries attended the event in South Africa. Among them were Algeria, Egypt, Spain, the Netherlands, the UAE, and Norway.

The schedule of the Russian Foreign Minister was intense. On the first day of the event, he held bilateral private meetings with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, as well as with his Indian counterpart Subramanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Algeria Hakan Fidan and Ahmed Attaf. On February 21, talks were also held with South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.

In his February 21 speech on the tasks of the G20, he recalled that it was originally created in 2008 to put out the fires of the global financial crisis, but now the world faces a cascade of intertwined crises.

- Behind them are armed conflicts unleashed and encouraged by the West, trade, technological and hybrid wars, breaking the international trade system and turning the dollar into a tool of manipulation and a weapon," he added.

According to him, the West is betting on confrontation, inflicting "strategic defeat" on competitors. "The practices of neocolonialism are being used: siphoning off cheap natural resources from developing countries, imposing pseudo-environmental taxes on their products, attempts to block cooperation of Africa, Asia and Latin America with China and Russia, restraining the industrialization of the Global South." In these conditions, the Minister continued, "thanks primarily to the efforts of the BRICS countries and their like-minded partners," the G20 still retains the status of a useful platform for bridging the interests of states with different strategies and levels of development.

Speaking about the outcome of the meeting, Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Russia and its G20 partners were generally satisfied with it. "Disagreements, of course, have not disappeared anywhere, but the conversation continues, it is always useful. And I believe that in Johannesburg it was possible to set a positive vector for further interaction in the G20, to increase attention to the acute problems of primarily the African continent, and other countries of the Global South. And in general, it is a good and useful contribution to the work that continues in preparation for the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November 2025," he concluded.