Brazil’s Lula cuts G-20 discussion short on Ukraine, irking Europeans

RIO DE JANEIRO - European delegates at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Brazil were unhappy with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s decision to end talks and issue the group’s final statement a day early to curtail prickly discussion on the war in Ukraine, sources said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Nov 19 he regretted that the G-20 communique did not underscore Russia’s responsibility in starting the Ukraine war, particularly on the 1,000th day of its full-scale invasion.

“It is too little when the G-20 cannot find the words to make it clear Russia is responsible,” he said at the end of the two-day summit of the G-20 major economies in Rio de Janeiro.

Wording on Ukraine has been thorny at G-20 meetings since the war began, because Russia and its allies are sitting at the table.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the Rio summit but was represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The communique is usually issued at the end of the summit, but Mr Lula decided to approve the text while wrapping up the plenary session on Nov 18 – at a moment the leaders of France, Germany and the United States were not in the room, diplomats said.

“The communique was closed by President Lula. It fell short of the position we could have had,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on the night of Nov 18, adding that the text would have benefited from being more explicit on the war.

“This does not change anything in France’s position: It is a war of aggression launched by Russia against Ukraine, and our priority today is to obtain a lasting peace,” Mr Macron added.

A European official called Mr Lula’s manoeuvre “brutal”, but his country decided to respect the prerogative of the summit host to decide when to issue the joint statement.

Brazil hastened approval of the communique on the night of Nov 18 to avoid the risk of the summit ending without a final declaration, even though the Europeans were asking for stronger language on Russia’s role in the war, three Brazilian diplomats who were present at the talks told Reuters.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Those leading the discussions had reached agreement on the final statement in the early morning of Nov 17 after intense negotiations. But that afternoon, France and Germany began to put pressure on Brazil to reopen the text in the light of major Russian air strikes on Ukraine. Brazil refused.

French diplomats could have asked on Nov 18 to delay approval of the text until Mr Macron was in the room, but did not, to the relief of the Brazilians.

“To reopen the text would have jeopardised the entire effort of a week of negotiations,” a Brazilian official told Reuters.

Germany’s Mr Scholz saw the disagreement over the G-20 text as a sign of the times in a changing world. “It is becoming clear how much geopolitical tensions are also having an impact on the G-20,” he said. “The wind blowing in international relations is getting rougher.” REUTERS