This Sunday, the United States defended the consensus declaration of the G20 summit, even though it did not include a condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which generated criticism from Kiev.
The White House Security Council’s “number two” said the document sends a message about the “imperative need” for Russia to stop using force and refrain from violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Jon Finer also considered that the statement published by the G20 on Saturday “is unprecedented.”
Finer made these comments to journalists aboard the plane carrying President Joe Biden on a visit to Vietnam, after having participated in the G20 summit in India, according to the Spanish agency EFE.
The G20 leaders’ statement calls on “all states” to avoid “the threat or use of force to seize territory,” but does not include a condemnation of the war in Ukraine.
The statement that G20 leaders issued after last year’s summit in Bali, Indonesia, included a paragraph in which most members “strongly condemned the war in Ukraine.”
Following the release of the G20 statement in New Delhi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed its disappointment.
“Ukraine thanks the partners who tried to include strong words in the text,” said ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.
“At the same time, in relation to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the G20 has nothing to be proud of,” he lamented.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, triggering a war that generated the most serious security crisis in Europe in recent decades.
During the conflict, which continues with no end in sight, Moscow annexed the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, after having done the same with Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize the sovereignty of the Russian Federation in the five annexed regions.
kyiv demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, and the reestablishment of the 1991 borders, when it became independent after being a Soviet republic.
The number of civilian and military casualties from the Russian war against Ukraine is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, admit that it will be very high.
Source: TSF
