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Shortly before the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has clear words for Russian President Vladimir Putin (archive photo).
© Dirk Waem/Belga/dpa
The foreign ministers of the leading economic powers are meeting in Rio shortly before the second anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
These are consultations in the shadow of global crises.
Rio de Janeiro - Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called on the G20 group of leading economic powers to use their weight to find a solution to the crises in Ukraine and Gaza.
It is “more than good that Brazil now has the G20 presidency, as the focus is on climate protection and justice and then the climate conference will take place here in Brazil next year,” said the Green politician on the sidelines of the G20 deliberations. Foreign Minister in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“The truth is that we will not make this world fairer if we do not get the acute crises under control.”
This applies to the brutal Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, but also to the situation in the Middle East, said the Federal Foreign Minister.
“The effects of these two wars are, above all, hitting the poorest people the hardest around the world.” That is why it is so important that, in addition to the issues of justice, climate protection and the fight against poverty, the G20 is looking for ways to achieve peace in Ukraine and the Middle East .
In addition to Germany, France and the USA, the group of states also includes Russia and China, among others.
The G20 represents around 80 percent of the world's economic power and 60 percent of the world's population.
Brazil currently holds the presidency.
At a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the cooperation between the two most populous countries in the Americas.
“We work together at bilateral, regional and global levels.
It is a very important partnership and we are grateful for it,” he said, according to the G1 news portal.
Russia also represented
Baerbock criticized Russia as an actor sitting at the G20 table “who doesn’t want to reform the international institutions like everyone else.”
She did not mention Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who traveled to Rio, by name.
Moscow wants to destroy international institutions and in particular the United Nations Charter.
That's why, two years after the start of the war, "the G20's joint commitment to international law and the Charter of the United Nations is so important."
Lavrov meets Brazilian colleague
On the sidelines of the G20 conference, Lavrov met with his Brazilian colleague Mauro Vieira for talks in Rio.
After a friendly greeting, the ministers discussed a range of bilateral and international issues, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
A bilateral meeting between Baerbock and Lavrov was not planned, as was the case at the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in India in 2023.
In addition, there should be no family photo together, as was common in Ukraine before the war.
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Baerbock reminded her G20 colleagues of Russian President Vladimir Putin's responsibility for the global consequences of the war of aggression on Ukraine.
“If Putin thinks that after two years the world will eventually forget who is responsible for the war in Ukraine and its dramatic global consequences, he is mistaken,” she said.
Baerbock rejects Holocaust comparison
Baerbock rejected statements by Brazilian President Lula that the deployment of the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip could be compared to the Holocaust.
“The Holocaust cannot be compared to anything,” she said in response to a journalist’s question about Lula’s words.
The Holocaust refers to the mass murder of millions of Jews ordered by Adolf Hitler.
Lula compared the Israeli military operation at the African Union summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa to the Holocaust.
“What is happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza has never happened at any other time in history.
“In fact, it already happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” said Lula.
The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, then declared Lula persona non grata and summoned the Brazilian ambassador to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
The government in Brazil, for its part, summoned the Israeli ambassador and recalled its representative in Israel for consultations.
G20 goals of the Foreign Minister
The Federal Foreign Minister named a reform of international organizations, the modernization of global finance and a determined fight against the climate crisis as the central G20 goals.
“We have to bring international institutions to the level of the 21st century.
This means ensuring greater fairness in international institutions, particularly financial institutions,” she said.
“Today, the countries most affected by the climate crisis pay the highest interest rates.
This is deeply unfair, and it is also more than counterproductive in terms of economic policy.”
In the fight against climate change, Baerbock demanded: “We can only get the climate crisis in this world under control if we all work together as states from north to south, from west to east.
But if all actors, financial actors, economic actors and civil society pull together.
This is also a question of justice.”
China and India not at the executive level in Rio
While Lavrov traveled to Rio, his Chinese colleague Wang Yi and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar did not want to be in Brazil.
Instead of chief diplomat Wang Yi, his deputy Ma Zhaoxu will represent China, said Foreign Office spokeswoman Mao Ning in Beijing.
Wang was unable to attend due to “scheduling reasons,” it said.
The Chinese had previously come to the Munich Security Conference last week and then visited Spain and France.
dpa