RUSSIA, WEST CLASH
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said “various countries” at the G20 meeting had also reiterated their condemnation of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But there was little sign of diplomatic progress.
Russia’s Lavrov lashed out at the West for its criticism following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison on Friday.
“They (the West) act like prosecutor, accuser, judge and executioner – all in one. This hysteria over Navalny’s death has shown this convincingly,” he told journalists.
“These people have no right to interfere in our internal affairs.”
He said he had had no contact with Western officials. His last meeting with Blinken was a tense encounter on the sidelines of a G20 gathering in India in March 2023.
Despite a push by Western countries to condemn the invasion, the G20’s last summit ended with a watered-down statement denouncing the use of force but not explicitly naming Russia, which maintains friendly ties with India and Brazil, among other members.
Lavrov “presented a set of alternative facts about what happened in Ukraine before their invasion, in order to justify” it, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, who was invited to the meeting as an observer, told journalists.
It was the first high-level meeting of the year for the G20, which will hold its annual leaders’ summit in Rio in November.
