Russia praises India for constructive role at meet

New Delhi, February 26

India stalled a request by western countries to permit Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko to address a G20 meeting of Finance Ministers, it has emerged.

The G7 group had to then settle for a separate meeting in Bengaluru where they heard Marchenko speak via a video link. The Indian stalling of Marchenko’s participation in the ministerial means that New Delhi is also not in the mood to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participate in the G20 summit that will be held here in September.

Meanwhile, Russia has appreciated the constructive role of the Indian presidency in steering the First Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting that ended in Bengaluru on Saturday but attacked the collective West for trying to destabilise the activities of the G20 through blackmail and diktat.

“The results of the meeting never received an agreed status and were released only as a statement by the chairman, and not as a joint work. Russia and China expressed a resolute protest in this regard. Many other delegations also experienced serious disappointment with such ultimatum actions by the US and its allies, which continue to sow enmity and hatred,” read a Russian Foreign Ministry statement.