"There is nothing to talk about with the West." Lavrov's key takeaway from the G20 speech

08 July 2022


Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks at the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Indonesia on Friday, reminding "our Western colleagues what they said in previous months and asked them to state what they want," otherwise there would be nothing to talk about".


Interaction with Western colleagues was expectedly unproductive, "only rabid Russophobia".


The Russian minister also had a number of fruitful bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Argentina, Brazil, India, China, Turkey, and South Korea. Negotiations with the Indonesian foreign minister are expected.


TASS collected the main statements of the minister.


"Everything as expected"


Western colleagues "did not use the G20 for the purposes for which it was created, it is obvious". Ignoring the protocol events of the G20 - "their understanding of protocol, and just politeness and the rules of ethics. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who declined to be photographed by Russian diplomats, "was not invited to do so."


Russia was not going to make any gestures - any boycott or affront. Representatives of all countries were present at working sessions and meetings. It was possible to "understand what the West is breathing today", even if it was not necessary to go to Bali, and "ask very unpleasant questions. "They have no answers to these questions, only rabid Russophobia" - "everything is going as we thought it would."


"Nothing to talk about"


Peace with Ukraine would have been possible if not for the position of the West: it "does not allow Ukraine to switch to the peace process, but forces it to take its weapons, use them to bomb cities and destroy civilians." They want "not negotiations, but Ukraine's victory over Russia on the battlefield," in which case, "there is probably nothing to talk about with the West."


Lavrov "asked his Western colleagues to decide what they really want. Apparently, for them, "the main thing is ideology, and not concern for Ukrainian citizens, Ukraine, or European security as a whole."


Russia "does not run" after the US, "offering to meet". Breaking contacts is Washington's choice. 


As for Boris Johnson, "well, he's gone and gone." As prime minister, he called for Russia to be isolated, "and so far his own party has isolated Boris Johnson." He was chasing "outside effects, holding on to power."


The crisis began long ago


The volume of grain blocked at Ukrainian ports does not exceed 1% of world production, which does not affect global food security.


We need the West to stop preventing the supply of Russian food to the countries that have already contracted it. Russia, together with Turkey, is ready to ensure the safety of convoys, but the West resists and hinders the process, proposing, for example, to create a mechanism involving NATO forces. Moscow is ready to negotiate with the Ukrainian side.


At the meeting Russia demonstrated in details the origins of food and energy crises "which began not today, not in February and not even last year" and were "the result of an adventurous, ill-conceived and erroneous policy of the West. It consisted in forcing an energy transition, as well as in artificial interference with market mechanisms.


Russia is ready to fulfill its obligations "to supply cheap, accessible energy carriers, hydrocarbons, oil and gas", but the US is against it. Washington is forcing the entire world to "switch over to much more expensive resources."


Contacts with colleagues


Lavrov has already met with colleagues from Argentina's Santiago Cafiero, Brazil's Carlos Alberto Franco Franco, India's Subramaniam Jaishankar and South Korea's Park Chin. The day before, Lavrov also held talks with the foreign ministers of Turkey and China, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Wang Yi. A meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi was also scheduled.


The dialogue with India focused, among other things, on the situation in Ukraine, and the sides agreed to expand contacts at all levels.


In the context of the situation in Ukraine, the South Korean foreign minister asked Lavrov not to allow "damage to Korean citizens and companies in Russia," South Korea's KBS television channel reported.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic world"

Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry

Based on materials from TASS