In the last row and all smiles. A “family photo” did take place on the first day of the G20 summit, on Monday, November 18 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), in the presence of Sergei Lavrov, head of Russian diplomacy.
For two years and after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the leaders of the twenty main economies on the planet have avoided appearing in the company of Vladimir Putin’s representative. This time, the Brazilian presidency used subterfuge to bring everyone together, not under the official banner of the G20, but in the name of the Alliance Against Hunger, President Lula’s top priority for the occasion. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, even took advantage of the moment to shake hands, without speaking to him, with the head of Russian diplomacy. For the record, a second photograph was taken on Tuesday, this time without Sergei Lavrov, but with US President Joe Biden, detained the day before.
President Lula will have done everything possible to avoid a fight over Ukraine, so as not to further widen the gap, increasingly deeper as the conflict becomes to Moscow’s advantage, between the West and the emerging states of the South, with China at the head. During the session, on Monday he did not hesitate to interrupt: “brutally” according to a European official – the debates on the draft conclusions. But in reality, the war continues to weigh on the discussions, whether it is about the risks of a conflagration in the Middle East or, above all, the conflict between Moscow and kyiv.
And with good reason: before the summit, Russia increased bombing attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and cities. And two days after obtaining the green light from Joe Biden, Ukraine carried out, on Tuesday, November 19, the first attacks with US missiles against military targets located in Russian territory. “We will consider this as a new phase in the Western war against Russia and will respond accordingly”Lavrov later declared. He then suggested that Kyiv’s allies read “whole” of the new Russian doctrine, unveiled that same morning, to expand the possibility of using atomic weapons against a non-nuclear State aided by a nuclear power.
“This will not deter us from supporting Ukraine”commented the head of the British government, Keir Starmer, from Rio, criticizing a “irresponsible rhetoric” from Moscow. Macron denounced “climbing posture” of Russia, which he mentioned Tuesday morning during an interview with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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