U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Bangalore went so far as to make direct threats against the official delegation of Russia.
Last meeting of the G20 finance ministers and heads of central banks in Bangalore, India, did not bring many surprises. Despite the efforts of the Indian presidency and most of the representatives to work out a joint position on the key problems of the world economy, the final communiqué could not be adopted. After all, consensus is a prerequisite for its adoption. However, not only Russia, but also China could not agree to the introduction in the economic communiqué of purely political points concerning the conflict in Ukraine. Accordingly, for the third time (earlier in Bali, in Washington – in 2022), the final communiqué was replaced by a statement of the chairman, in this case by India.
This happened despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's direct call for the G20 financial leaders to focus on "the world's most vulnerable citizens" and not politicize the economic agenda.
Opening the meeting in Bangalore, Modi said that the COVID-19 pandemic and "growing geopolitical tensions in different parts of the world" have led to unsustainable debt levels in several countries, disruptions in global supply chains and threats to food and energy security. It would seem that such topics cannot afford delay. Nevertheless, representatives of the G7 insisted on the Ukrainian agenda here as well.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's official statement on the occasion emphasized the West's destabilizing role in the failure to adopt collective G20 decisions. During the meeting, representatives of financial institutions of the G20 countries developed measures for the growth of the global economy and financial markets. The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the BRICS countries and especially the Indian presidency have made a positive contribution to this project. But ... "Our opponents, first and foremost the United States, the EU and the G7, are still not slowing down in their paranoid attempts to isolate Russia and shift the blame for the provoked problems in international security and the world economy onto it," the statement read. "We urge the collective West to abandon their destructive course as soon as possible, realize the objective realities of a multipolar world, and start building normal relations with new centers of power in the international arena, such as Russia, on the principles of sovereign equality of States," the Russian Foreign Ministry added.
A similar protest against the actions of the West followed from the Foreign Ministry of China. "Here we see a shift in the Chinese position, and that is very unfortunate," German Finance Minister Linder lamented, while officials from Russia, China's strategic partner, insist that discussions should concern only "technical issues of the international financial architecture.
So, the U.S. and its allies (or, more correctly, vassals) on all international platforms set a goal of forcing everyone and everything "to stand on the right side" of history, twisting the arms of those who do not agree. And regardless of the subject of discussion: politics, economics, climate, humanitarian issues.
The hypocrisy has no limits. In particular, here is a passage from the proposed points of the communiqué: "Peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to resolve crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue are vital" and "Today's era should not be a war." Who would argue with this, if we discard double standards and if we were not talking solely about Ukraine. We are told about peaceful conflict resolution, crisis management and diplomacy by those who rejected all of Russia's peace proposals, who forced Kiev to withdraw from peace talks last year.
It is inconceivable that similar points appeared in the communiqués of international meetings during the U.S. and coalition attack on Iraq. There was no condemnation during the destruction of Libya by NATO and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. And only because then NATO burned and killed supposedly in the name of democracy, while now Russia has opposed the sacred principles of the "free" world.
But this approach is no longer acceptable to everyone a priori. The West has failed to twist India's arm. Prime Minister Modi's speech to the Bangalore summit is a vivid example of this. There is no condemnation of Russia in it. Indeed, as G20 chair, India is interested in compromises and signing final documents. But, as they say, everything has a limit.
And this limit was also marked during the just-concluded visit of the German Chancellor to New Delhi. Scholz failed to put India on the right "side of history," although he made attractive offers to the Indians, including in the trade, economic and defense sectors. But a country with a population of 1.4 billion that is rapidly developing (and without Western aid), but faces considerable social and economic problems, believes that "one old friend is better than two new ones." India remembers its colonial past and is not ready to exchange its time-tested friendship with Russia for short-term promises, behind which there is political pressure.
Minister Siluanov and Central Bank Governor Nabiullina were not present at the last G20 financiers' meeting in Bangalore. Although it is said that the Indian side would like to see them there. But taking into account the situation in Moscow they decided to lower the level of representation.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to visit Delhi on March 1. In addition to meetings with Indian counterparts, he will take part in a meeting of heads of diplomatic missions of the G20 countries. It is expected that the main topics of talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar will focus on trade and investment, transport and logistics cooperation, as well as the use of national currencies in mutual settlements and promising projects in the field of energy.
"The ministers will exchange views on current international issues, including interaction in the framework of the Indian presidency of the SCO and the G20, as well as coordination of approaches in the UN, BRICS, RIC (Russia, India, China)," said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. A number of regional issues will also be discussed, in particular the formation of a security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, the situation in Afghanistan and the situation in Ukraine.
We remember Western countries' provocations against Lavrov in Bali in 2022. Nevertheless, he decided to personally present the Russian position. Let's see what will happen in India. One can get an impression of how the representatives of the so-called "free democratic world" behaved in Bangalore from the reports in the Western press. Here, for example, is what The New York Times writes. "I urge Russian officials here at the G20 to understand that their continued work for the Kremlin makes them complicit in Putin's atrocities," U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said in a closed-door meeting, as a Treasury Department official told the newspaper. – They are responsible for the lives and economic damage to Ukraine and the world.
It is clear that there is no question of diplomacy here. Instead, there is a hint of a direct threat to people who are simply doing their jobs, and a call for treason. But unlike the meeting in Washington last year, where the Yellen-led "fighters for good against bad" tried to boycott the heads of the Russian delegation, in Bangalore they listened intently to what the Russian representatives had to say.
The behavior of Yellen and her Western colleagues (including Canadian Finance Minister Freeland, the successor of the Ukrainian Banderites) had no effect on the Russian delegation.
But Western methods and policies are a clear lesson not only for non-Western members of the G20, but also for the rest of the world.
The approach of the global South was recently formulated by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. In short: The West has colonized us, killed and robbed us, and now it demands that we support it in a war against Russia, which has never colonized or humiliated us and, on the contrary, has supported our quest for independence and justice.
According to Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar, who will chair the forthcoming meeting of heads of diplomatic missions in Delhi, "Europe must stop thinking that Europe's problems are problems of the world and that the problems of the world are not problems of Europe." To paraphrase in a modern way in the style of the old Reagan: There is something more important for the collective South than Ukraine.