Russia, China isolated on Ukraine crisis: EU official amid India's efforts to build consensus on draft G20 leaders' declaration

New Delhi: The Ukraine crisis is a priority for the European Union and Russia and China are increasingly "isolated" on the issue, a senior EU official said on Wednesday as India tries to build consensus on the text to describe the crisis in the G20 leaders' declaration.

The EU can't accept any effort by Russia and China to move away from text that was used in G20 Summit in Bali to refer to the conflict, the official said.

India is finding it difficult to build consensus on the text in view of sharp differences between the West and Russia-China combine.

Both Russia and China had agreed to the two paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict in last year's Bali declaration, but they backtracked from it this year creating difficulties for India.

At an online briefing, the EU official side-stepped questions on whether differences on the Ukraine crisis could hold up a consensus leaders' declaration. The G20 Sherpas' are currently holding negotiations to finalise the draft of the G20 leaders' declaration.

"The text as it is presented by the Indians now is not enough for the G7 and EU... because it is not going far enough,” the official said. The G20 operates under the principle of consensus and any divergent view by any one member country can create hurdles.

India is hosting the G20 Summit on September 9 and 10 in its capacity as the current president of the bloc.

China and Russia are more “isolated” on this issue than the G7, which has agreed on common principles that states do not attack each other or resort to use of threats.

Almost all key meetings held under India's G20 presidency including those of finance and foreign ministers, could not come out with consensus documents in view of opposition from Russia and China to any text referring to the Ukraine conflict.

The EU official also rejected Russia's stand that the G20 is an economic forum and it must not discuss geopolitical issues.

The official said the G20 negotiators have largely agreed on text regarding the tripling the renewable energy capacity by 2030.

At the same time, they could not go beyond commitments made at G20 Bali Summit on limiting use of fossil fuels, the official said.

On India's priority relating to digital public infrastructure (DPI), the official said G20 negotiators are yet to agree on financing of the concept.

The official said DPI finds mention in the draft being negotiated for the leaders' declaration. The negotiators also agreed on text on artificial intelligence (AI), the official said.