Canada: "Russia Must Take Responsibility for Ukraine War"
Russia: "It Should Not Be Included as a Summit Agenda Item"
The Group of Seven (G7) and Russia are at odds over including references to the Ukraine war in the joint declaration of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit, scheduled to be held in New Delhi, India, on the 9th and 10th.
Canada, acting as the spokesperson for the G7, insists that expressions holding Russia responsible for the Ukraine war should be included in the joint declaration. On the other hand, Russia opposes having the Ukraine war issue on the G20 summit agenda.
According to the Indian daily The Times of India on the 1st (local time), the Canadian Prime Minister's Office recently announced its participation in the G20 summit, stating that holding Russia accountable for the Ukraine war is essential to maintaining the unity and effectiveness of the G20.
In the same context, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed disappointment last week upon hearing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not attend the New Delhi G20 summit.
The Russian Foreign Ministry recently announced that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend the G20 summit instead of President Vladimir Putin. Russia criticized the Western side for trying to include the Ukraine war, an issue on which their position is fixed, as an agenda item at the summit, calling it an act that undermines the value of operating the meeting by consensus, as stipulated by G20 rules.
A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said, "We refer to the act of refusing to acknowledge the real difficulties, causes, and solutions of the Ukraine war and making it an agenda item at all international meetings, even those where it is not a subject of discussion, as the 'Ukrainization of the international agenda' phenomenon." However, Russia stated that it could agree to mention Ukraine if the joint declaration includes language calling attention to Russia's 'legitimate concerns.' The Russian side refrained from elaborating on the 'legitimate concerns.'
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