Belligerent Russia threatens to sabotage Indian G20 presidency
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 4: Two failed bid to come out with joint communique has revealed stark contrasts between Indonesian and Indian G20 presidency. Unlike the Bali Summit late last year, Russia is no more trooping out of the G20 meetings, but matching firepower around the roundtable. The assertion of the ‘rules-based international order’ during the deliberations is riling up Russia during the G20 deliberations.
The failed bid of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting to come out with a joint communique has India in a spot. The commencement of the Indian presidency of the G20 was on a high note. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told Russian President that “today’s era is not that of war” on his face in Samarkand on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). India at some time could have even entertained the audacious idea of brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine.
But the reality struck first at the Bengaluru meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers as the western block led by the US seemingly prevailed to push their agenda by inserting two paragraphs on the Ukraine War. This was despite India’s clear emphasis that the developing countries, the Global South, is reeling under the impact of the consequences of the Ukraine War and the aftereffects of the Covid-19 pandemic. India wanted the rising debt stress and food crisis along with the pressing need for the energy transition to deal with the challenges posed by Climate Change.
Between the Indonesian and the Indian presidency, a fresh diplomatic turn has come in the way China has visibly aligned with Russia ostensibly alarmed at the prospects of the world becoming unipolar and the shooting down of its balloons, dubbed as spy balloons by the US and Canada. The coordinated push by the western block to turn the heat on China has sent Beijing firmly in the Russian camp. That is despite the fact that Beijing came out with a Peace Paper on the Ukraine War, calling for cessation of battle, negotiation and diplomacy among others as the way out.
Now Russia and China are digging in their heels during the Indian presidency to match the western block in setting the agenda, and India has now a clear challenge on the hand to rescue the G20 from the pulls and pressures of the two blocks.
“China’s support for Russia at the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting is more curious. After all, China too agreed to the Bali Leaders’ Declaration on Ukraine, so why disagree now? The only way this can be interpreted is that China is doubling down on its ‘no limits’ partnership with Russia, knowing full well this strategy will not be cost-free. This is important for the world, but even more for India whose strategic calculus is now fraught,” wrote former diplomat Mohan Kumar in a blog.
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