Russia FM Lavrov arrives in India for G20 summit: broadcast

September 8, 2023 08:06 PM

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived Friday to head Moscow's G20 summit delegation in President Vladimir Putin's absence, television broadcasts showed.

Putin is not attending -- or even planning to make a video address at -- the G20 in India, with relations between Moscow and many members of the bloc fraught over the Ukraine war.

"We are working closely with all G20 countries to... combat attempts to explain the world's humanitarian and economic problems solely through the conflict in Ukraine," a statement from Lavrov's ministry said before his arrival.

The ministry said the conflict was "provoked and remains instigated by the Americans, to the detriment of European security".

Tensions have escalated over Russian attacks on Ukrainian grain export hubs and Kyiv's forces targeting Moscow's naval ports and warships.

European Council president Charles Michel, also in New Delhi for the G20, said Friday that Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports was "scandalous" and "must stop".

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who arrived earlier in the afternoon, remarked that Putin's absence from the meeting of the world's top leaders showed the Russian leader was the "architect of his own diplomatic exile".