Failure seven: Lavrov took "fire on himself"

The G20 meeting in Indonesia was the first, perhaps so, and the last opportunity for the G7 representatives (the G7) in the full composition of its main diplomats to talk "on the sidelines of Bali" with Sergey Lavrov. Clarify positions on key problems after the start of a special military operation, according to The Moscow Post.

But the West neglected this opportunity, continuing to "breathe" Russophobia, as well as the strange lack of interest in protocol events and Indonesian cuisine. As offended and vindictive teenagers, the Sevens missed the welcome reception with a concert on the occasion of the opening of the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers.

The reception went smoothly, although everyone remembered how the "international courtesy" was thrown away by the Seven diplomats, and Indonesia, as the organizer of the event, had to swallow resentment. Everything is like in the old colonial days. Falsa was less, and "Seven" told its public in advance - Russia at the meeting should be "isolated and punished."

Westerners even refused a joint photo shoot, bringing their "values" to diplomacy with this demarche. "I didn't invite anyone anywhere at all," the Russian minister said, "Indonesia invited me." Indonesia also invited Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in November, despite demarches and calls for a boycott of Russia.

Dialogue with Western countries does not make sense if they want "Ukraine's victory over Russia on the battlefield," Lavrov later told the press. In Denpasar, Westerners strayed to rabid criticism over the situation in Ukraine, despite the fact that the G20 is designed to counteract crises. The meeting, however, made it possible to ask impartial questions, which were not answered, Lavrov said later.

At the same time, there was enough room for dialogue at the meeting in Indonesia. Recall that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia arrived on the island of Bali shortly before the start of the meeting. By this time, he had held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as well as Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister. Other meetings and conversations took place in Denpasar.

When "johnsons" go to talk about nothing

As the G20's planned foreign ministerial events followed one after the other, news came in. The first is tragic. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed in the ancient capital of Japan, Nara. Shortly before that, in London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was overtaken by resignation.

Sergey Lavrov expressed condolences to Japan in connection with the death of Abe. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the attempt a monstrous crime and an act of terrorism. Lavrov did not regret the resignation of the British prime minister, he said directly - "He left and left."

Lavrov also noted that his Western colleagues do not understand the rules of politeness and etiquette. Civility and restraint, as you know, do not imply head-on clashes of diplomats representing states in difficult, even alarming conditions. Moreover, it was foolish to deliberately pick up on the territory of a country that is not involved in the conflict.

In a conflict, diplomats should take every opportunity to talk, to find at least something in common. Moreover, the "Twenty" was precisely for that and gathered to discuss common problems in the energy sector and in the field of food. But the Seven neglected both this opportunity and diplomatic etiquette.

The Russian minister also changed his diplomatic style. "There's nothing to talk to the West about," he said, as he cut off. "If he (the West) wants not negotiations, but the victory of Ukraine over Russia on the battlefield, then, probably, there is nothing to talk about simply with the West, because he, in fact, does not allow Ukraine to move to the peace process with these approaches," Mr. Lavrov shared his vision of the foreign policy situation following the meeting of the G20 foreign ministers.

Earlier, he said that Western countries are distinguished by the falsity of their promises. According to Lavrov, which he said at a meeting with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Moscow will "take into account this sad experience of the continuous deceptions that we have experienced in the field of European security over the past 30 years."

Speaking on the results

"Russia considers the" twenty "as a leading forum of international economic cooperation and as an effective mechanism of multilateral management, on the basis of which verified decisions should be made in the interests of the whole world," they say in the Russian diplomatic department.

This group was founded at a conference in Berlin, which was held on December 15-16, 1999 at the initiative of the finance ministers of seven leading industrialized countries - Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the USA, France and Japan. The main goal of its creation was to involve large developing countries in the process of developing measures in response to global challenges.

G20 leaders began to meet regularly in the interests of coordinating actions in the context of economic recovery after the 2008 crisis. The G20 today is more than 80% of global GDP and 75% of global trade. Two topics were discussed in Denpasar. The first is the crisis of the mechanisms of multilateral interaction and its overcoming. The second is food and energy security.

Speaking and answering questions from the media following the G20 ministerial meeting in Denpasar, July 8, 2022, Lavrov said that Western colleagues did not follow the G20 mandate, which includes regulating the global economy, reaching agreements on sustainable development.

The origins of crises in these areas are known. This is the forced introduction of "green" transformation, artificial interference in the mechanisms of supply and demand regulation. Russia is ready to fulfill all obligations to supply cheap, affordable energy resources - hydrocarbons, including oil and natural gas. The United States has been opposing this for several years, calling for a transition to more expensive resources.

In the field of food security, the Russian side is ready to use its grain reserves to solve problems. The West created serious difficulties for the insurance of Russian ships, artificially blocks calls to ports, financial payments for food supplies. The United States does not want to force Kyiv to clear the Black Sea ports and allow ships with grain to pass through the territorial waters of Ukraine. The crisis associated with the Ukrainian grain, the West introduces into the discussions as the first news. But the volume of grain "locked" in Ukrainian ports is less than 1% of global production.

No "consensus" boycott

The event took place, delegations from all G20 and EU member states arrived, the boycott of Russia did not work. The speech of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi was attended by everyone. The minister called for "ending the war as soon as possible" and "not on the battlefield, but at the negotiating table." Chinese Minister Wang Yi, as well as UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres, called for a return to multilateral approaches, "to be partners that respect each other, and to consult on an equal footing."

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Western partners avoided communication with Sergei Lavrov. The head of the British Foreign Ministry Liz Truss left before the start of the ministerial meeting in connection with the resignation of Boris Johnson.

Consensus on the issues chosen for discussion (multilateral cooperation and joint response to food and energy security issues) could not be reached either. On the basis of disagreements over Russia's military operation in Ukraine, the event ended without a joint communiqué. This was the first time and the meeting in Denpasar can only be called preparation for the G20 summit in November with a stretch.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbok told reporters that the Russian minister left the first session of the meeting "without listening to it," and also did not appear at the second session, missing speeches by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and video messages from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. The chief diplomat of the European Union, Josep Borrell, who himself does not differ in diplomacy, called the behavior of Sergei Lavrov "disrespectful."

The Russian Foreign Ministry subsequently explained that the minister did not boycott anyone, and after listening to the first speakers, he moved to a neighboring room, where he had bilateral negotiations with colleagues from Argentina, Brazil and India. He did not plan to attend the second session. According to the Russian delegation, Western participants began to force the topic of "boycott" by Sergei Lavrov, since they themselves failed to achieve its isolation.

Discussion may go down in history

"This story may well enter any diplomacy textbooks, having compiled a whole chapter in them," Dmitry Kosyrev responded in his commentary for RIA Novosti. And he suggested calling this chapter: "How to drive yourself into a trap without the slightest chance to get out of there." The entire "not Western Ten" offered to return to "normality," discuss measures to jointly resolve crises - financial, food, logistics and others.

Among the Westerners in the G20 are Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, the USA, France, Japan and the European Union. The EU is represented by the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council. It also includes states such as Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Korea. A prominent place is occupied by BRICS - Brazil, India, China, Russia, South Africa.

The West is short-sighted in relations with Russia, writes former Singapore Permanent Representative to the UN Kishor Mahbubani for The National Interest.

"The myopia of the West in relations with Russia is manifested in unreasonable attempts to exclude it from the G20," he said.

According to the scientist and former diplomat, the Western world makes up only 12% of the population. Thus, America and Europe, insisting on the isolation of Russia, risk incurring problems with other countries, while China and India will reduce dependence on the United States and European states, building new financial and political systems.

"Russia will not disappear. She will be a neighbor of Europe for the next thousands of years, and she will have quite good relations with most countries of the world outside the West, "the author summarizes.

For journalists, this meeting was especially interesting. "The entire Western press covering the G20 ministerial meeting is busy with one thing: trying to find out who boycotted whom as a result... If the Western media had an idea of ​ ​ arithmetic, they could solve a simple problem: 20-7 = 13. What the failure of the boycott means before it began, "said Maria Zakharova, who was part of the Russian delegation.

"A useful discussion that allowed us to ask very impartial questions to our Western colleagues. They have no answers to these questions, there is only rabid Russophobia, which they replace the need to agree on key issues of the world economy and finance, for which, in fact, the twenty was created, "TASS quoted Sergei Lavrov as saying.

The minister, having met with the "unfriendly seven," took over the fire in the midst of a special military operation where Ukraine was quite recently.

Photo: AP Photo / Pool Photo / Stefani Reynolds