US lauds India's Presidency in G20, keeps mum on 'Russia' omission from Ukraine consensus

As India concluded the G20 Summit, the United States called the two-day affair an “absolute success”. On Monday, US State Department official spokesperson Matthew Miller lauded India’s Presidency at G20 and called the event a success. The American diplomat also touched upon the absence of Russia in the New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Declaration. US President Joe Biden took part in the 2-day event before he headed to Vietnam for an official visit. 

“We absolutely believe it was a success. The G20 is a big organisation. Russia is a member of the G20. China is a member of the G20,” the US official remarked when asked what the US thinks about India’s Presidency at the G20 summit. While the New Delhi Declaration condemned the threats of using nuclear weapons in the “War in Ukraine,” it did not make any mention of Russia when taking a stance on the ongoing war. When asked about the absence of Russia from the declaration, Miller acknowledged the diversity of views in such a huge body. 

G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration adopted with the bang of the gavel!

Read the full text 📃: https://t.co/io5wHjqSkd pic.twitter.com/hkhPsPgG0s

— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia)

 "There are members that have a diverse range of views. We believe the fact that the organisation was able to issue a statement that calls for respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and saying that those principles should not be violated is an extremely important statement because that is exactly what is at the heart of Russia's invasion of Ukraine,” he asserted. “It is those very questions so we thought that was an incredibly important statement for them to make," the US official furthered. 

What does the declaration say about the war in Ukraine? 

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war remained one of the major topics discussed at the G20 summit. The joint declaration gave out a stance on the war based on the consensus. “Concerning the war in Ukraine, while recalling the discussion in Bali, we reiterated our national positions and resolutions adopted at the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly (A/RES/ES-11/1 and A/RES/ES-11/6) and underscored that all states must act in a manner consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in its entirety,” the declaration reads. “In line with the UN Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any State. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible,” it furthered. 

Reaching a consensus on war was one of the highly contentious issues. Under India’s G20 presidency, the International bloc drifted away from the way they referred to the ongoing war. In the Bali summit last year, the body used the phrase “War against Ukraine”. However, in the 18th edition of the summit, they referred to the conflict as “War in Ukraine”.