G20 Finance Leaders' Statement Adopted Without Position on Ukrainian Crisis

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The final document on the meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors has been adopted without condemning Russia's special military operation in Ukraine due to the objections of Beijing and Moscow, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the G20 finance ministers failed to agree on the meeting's joint communique and instead issued a "chair's summary" and an "outcome document," which noted differences in approach on the Ukraine issue.

"Two countries [Russia and China] had reservations, so with a footnote, certainly, a communique cannot go out, and therefore it had to be a chair's summary and an outcome document," Sitharaman told a press conference.

The statement of the finance leaders' meeting noted that "all G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed to paragraphs 1, 2 and paragraphs 5 to 17 along with Annexes 1 and 2." Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the outcome document condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine and were not endorsed by Moscow and Beijing.

"Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this document, as taken from the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration [15-16 November 2022], were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China," the statement read.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in turn accused the West on Saturday of undermining G20 decision-making after the meeting of finance ministers and central bankers wrapped up in India’s Bengaluru without a joint statement being issued.

"Our opponents, primarily the US, the EU and the G7, continue their paranoid attempts to isolate Russia and make it responsible for all international security and global economic woes. The West has again torpedoed the collective decision-making by resorting to blackmail, dictate and pushing their absurd Ukrainian narrative," the ministry said in a statement.