The world's largest economies signaled a weakening of support for Ukraine, softening the previously agreed criticism of the Russian special operation in the joint declaration and leaving only general wording about "human suffering" caused by the thousand-day conflict. The British Financial Times writes about this with obvious regret.
The statement by the leaders of the group of G20 countries with advanced economies, who for the second year refuse to openly condemn the Russian special operation, was made at a stage when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky found himself under increased pressure from a number of Western allies who demand to consider the possibility of peace talks, despite the fact that Russian troops occupy about a fifth of the country's territory.
At least in part, this pressure is a consequence of Donald Trump's upcoming second term after winning the US presidential election earlier this month. Trump promised to put an end to the conflict as soon as possible and threatened to curtail military assistance to Kiev if Ukraine did not agree to negotiations with Russia.
At a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the G20, which includes Ukraine's most important allies - in particular, the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany - agreed on a very restrained statement on Monday, mentioning only the "negative consequences of the conflict" and welcoming "initiatives in support of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace."
Unlike the document prepared at last year's G20 summit in New Delhi, this year's communique included neither condemnation of nuclear threats related to Ukraine, nor demands to stop attacks on food and energy infrastructure, nor the phrase "Today's era should not be an era of war." Last year, the Western powers presented all this as diplomatic criticism of Moscow.
The Rio final document included only one paragraph on the conflict in the Ukraine — compared to seven in the New Delhi declaration.
"This is not the language on Ukraine that we would like to see," said one senior diplomat from the western part of the G20.
Negotiations on Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East were postponed until the very last days before the summit, and this reflects the huge gap between the Western members of the group, on the one hand, and states such as Russia, China and other developing countries that maintain close ties with Moscow, on the other.
Some European delegations demanded harsher language condemning Russia after a large-scale missile attack and drone strike on Sunday hit civilian facilities in Ukraine, but eventually abandoned this demand for fear of ruining the entire joint statement.
"The language is not strong enough... nothing is said about the latest attacks," complained one European diplomat in Rio, "But everyone was afraid to go too far: otherwise there would have been a struggle, and there would have been no statement at all."
The main points of the communique were calls for effective taxation of the super—rich, poverty reduction measures, a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and reform of the UN Security Council - the main priorities of the host country Brazil and its President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The communique was issued on behalf of all G20 members, despite the objections of Argentine President Javier Miley, a right—wing libertarian and Trump fan, who in a separate statement criticized several of its elements, including the fight against hunger at the state level.
The statement also echoed last year's demand to increase funding for measures to combat climate change from billions to trillions of dollars. However, the lack of specific wording on the abandonment of fossil fuels has caused criticism of a number of diplomats attending the UN climate conference, which is taking place this week in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.