There’s a ‘big divide’ on Ukraine at the G-20, EU’s Borrell says
There was a “big divide” in opinions about the Ukraine war at the G-20 foreign affairs meeting, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said Friday.
He also stressed that the West needs to be “vigilant” on China’s support for Russia.
“There is a big divide, and Russia will continue the war,” he told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill in India.
“China has always told us that they are not providing arms to Russia, and they do not plan to do it, very much explicitly,” he added. “But, certainly we have to remain vigilant.”
— Katrina Bishop and Silvia Amaro
Quad members call Putin’s nuclear threats unacceptable
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a meeting of the Federal Security Service collegium in Moscow on Feb. 28, 2023.
Gavriil Grigorov | Sputnik | Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats are not acceptable, foreign ministers of the “Quad” group — the U.S., Japan, Australia and India — said in a joint statement on Friday during the Group of 20 meeting of ministers in India.
“We continued to discuss our responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing, and concurred that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible,” the statement said.
The statement was a rare point of consensus between the U.S. and India on the Ukraine war. India’s government has so far refused to outright condemn Russia for the war. Moscow is a longtime ally and important trade partner to India.
— Natasha Turak
Russia cannot be allowed impunity for the war, Blinken says
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on March 2, 2023.
Olivier Douliery | Afp | Getty Images
Russia has to be punished for its war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a meeting in New Delhi with foreign ministers of the “Quad” group, whose members are the United States, India, Japan and Australia.
“If we allow with impunity Russia to do what it’s doing in Ukraine, then that’s a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too,” Blinken said, speaking to a forum.
The meeting with Quad members came during the Group of 20 meeting in India of the world’s top 20 economies, where the war in Ukraine dominated discussions. Western officials urged other countries present to keep pressuring Russia, but a joint communique from the meeting condemning Russia’s war could not be agreed because of opposition from Moscow and Beijing. The Kremlin still calls the war its “special military operation.”
— Natasha Turak
Russian envoy says nuclear powers may clash over Ukraine
A senior Russian diplomat warned that increasing Western support for Ukraine could trigger an open conflict between nuclear powers.
Speaking at the U.N. conference on disarmament, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denounced the U.S. and its allies for openly declaring the goal of defeating Russia in a “hybrid” war, arguing that it violates their obligations under international agreements and is fraught with the war in Ukraine spilling out of control.
Ryabkov warned that “the U.S. and NATO policy of fueling the conflict in Ukraine” and their “increasing involvement in the military confrontation is fraught with a direct military clash of nuclear powers with catastrophic consequences.”
He emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to suspend the 2010 New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms pact with the U.S. came in response to the U.S. and NATO action on Ukraine.
— Associated Press
China has not yet provided Russia with weapons for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, White House says
John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House on March 2, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The White House said it has not yet seen China supply Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine.
“We haven’t seen the Chinese make a decision to move in that direction,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said when asked about any potential weapons transfers.
“Ultimately it’s their choice to make,” Kirby added, declining to elaborate on potential U.S. retaliatory actions.
— Amanda Macias