As India and the G20 grouping hailed the adoption of the Delhi Declaration on the first day of the ongoing G20 leaders summit, Ukraine on Saturday, September 9, said the outcome document was “nothing to be proud of” and criticised it for not mentioning Russia.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko posted a screenshot of the relevant section of the G20 declaration, striking out several parts of the text in red, and ‘corrected’ with wording that reflects the country’s position that it is a victim of unprovoked Russian aggression.
"Obviously, participation from the Ukrainian side (in the G20 meeting) would have allowed the participants to better understand the situation," Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.
However at the same time, he thanked Ukraine's allies for doing their bit to advance the country’s position in the text. "Ukraine is grateful to the partners who tried to include strong formulations in the text," he wrote.
The Delhi Declaration does not mention Russia anywhere and refers to the Ukraine conflict as "war in Ukraine", a major climb down from last year's Bali Declaration which had condemned the "war against Ukraine".
But Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the Delhi Declaration could not be compared to the Bali Declaration. In Bali, the G20 members had reiterated their national positions of "deploring in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.”
In contrast, the Delhi Declaration said: "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 and underscored that all states must act in a manner consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in its entirety.
"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."
Jaishankar explained the change in India's language on the war in Ukraine and said: "Regarding the change in language on the Russia-Ukraine conflict from the Bali Declaration — Bali was Bali, New Delhi is Delhi. Many things have happened since the Bali Declaration.”
