US-West's tussle with Russia overshadows upcoming G20 foreign ministers' meeting

New Delhi: The ever-increasing differences between the US-West countries and Russia-China over the Ukraine crisis may cast a shadow on the upcoming meeting of G20 foreign ministers in New Delhi on March 1 and 2, 2023.

The meeting of the finance ministers for the G20 countries which was held at Bengaluru, ended on February 25 without a joint statement. Most G20 member nations condemned the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, but China and Russia declined to sign the joint statement.

Disagreements at the G20 Finance ministers meeting

This led India, hosting the two-day event, to release a "chair's summary and outcome document." The document in question wrote, "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy."

This was said in the context of supply chain disruptions, financial stability risks, and continuing energy and food insecurity. It also added that "different assessments of the situation and sanctions" refer to the ongoing conflict.

A footnote said that all member countries except Russia and China agreed to the two paragraphs in summary about the ongoing conflict."

It comes when Russia withdraws from the New START treaty, and when western countries have imposed thousands of sanctions against Russia and some of its citizens since the beginning of the conflict.

Meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers

The G20 meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi on March 1 and 2 will be attended by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US secretary of state Antony Blinken, and China's Foreign minister Qin Gang along with other G20 foreign ministers.

Like Finance Ministers' meeting in Bangalore, the Foreign Ministers' meeting will discuss The Russia-Ukraine war. It may overshadow issues like climate change, Third World Debt, and food and energy prices that are on the agenda.

It is a testing time for the Indian leadership

Like the "Bali declaration", the world expects India to be able to play a neutral role and do maximum in building a bridge to erase the gap between the West and Russia. Can India in the meeting arrive at a consensus-driven outcome?

It will be a great success and recognition for India if they achieve even ten per cent of the success in ironing out differences over the Ukraine conflict that are so visibly divided.

The platform of Foreign Ministers meeting under the Presidency of New Delhi will be yet another chance for all sides to put their grievances on the table and reach some conclusions.

Will India be able to mediate and bring all parties to an agreement? It remains a big challenge, and all eyes are on India to maintain good relations with Russia and the West and get some results in coordinating the two sides of the dispute.

It is more challenging when the tug of war between the US and its Western allies versus Russia and China over the conflict in Ukraine intensifies with no one willing to make a compromise, which makes it more difficult to reach a consensus at the foreign ministers' meeting.