G-20 chair Indonesia says 'many' nations condemned Russia at talks

BALI • Many nations in the Group of 20 (G-20) major economies condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and called for it to end the war during ministerial talks in Bali, host Indonesia said in its closing statement yesterday.

A two-day gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors on the resort island ended without a joint communique because of disagreements with Russia over the war.

But Western nations pressed Russia over the military assault, accusing Moscow of sending a shockwave through the global economy and its technocrats of complicity in alleged war crimes committed during the invasion.

"Many members agreed that the recovery of the global economy has slowed and is facing a major setback as a result of Russia's war against Ukraine, which was strongly condemned, and called for an end to the war," Indonesia said in the declaration.

Jakarta, which has been maintaining its neutral foreign policy stance ahead of hosting November's G-20 summit, replaced a joint communique with a 14-paragraph chair's statement that did not fall under the forum's banner and included two sections on members' differences.

"One member expressed the view that the sanctions are adding to existing challenges," it said, in an apparent reference to Russia, which has denied blame for the current global economic headwinds.

There was also no G-20-wide consensus on tackling the global food crisis exacerbated by Russia's invasion, which is expected to hinder coordinated efforts to address rising inflation and food shortages threatening to leave millions in developing nations at risk of hunger.

"The majority of members agreed that there is an alarming increase of food and energy insecurity," Indonesia said. "Many members stand ready to take prompt collective actions."

The failure to secure a joint communique came a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of G-20 talks in Bali over criticism of Moscow. Russia sent only a deputy minister to the finance talks, with its finance minister participating virtually.

Canada blasted Moscow's participation in the meeting at all as "absurd", with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland saying Russia's presence "was like inviting an arsonist to a meeting of firefighters".

As the war in Ukraine nears the end of its fifth month, the European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia today, as Moscow was accused of using the continent's largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and launch missiles on surrounding regions of southern Ukraine.

The situation at the captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is "extremely tense", Ukraine's atomic energy agency chief Petro Kotin said, adding that Russians had installed missile launchers and used the facility to shell the Dnipro region.

With the conflict grinding on, the EU's foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia, aligning with sanctions already imposed by G-7 partners. More Russian figures could also be placed on the EU's blacklist.

"Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was continuing to sow grief and death on Ukrainian soil eight years on from the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

International investigators have said the plane was downed by a Russian surface-to-air missile likely fired by Russian-backed militia.

Mr Zelensky said his thoughts were with relatives of the dead and that nothing would go unpunished. "Every criminal will be brought to justice!" he wrote on Twitter.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS