Ukraine to occupy centre-stage at Delhi meet

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, February 27

The Ukraine issue will be the centre of attention when Foreign Ministers of G20 countries begin gathering in the Capital from Tuesday for the G20 Ministerial on March 1 and 2.

If the just-concluded Finance Ministers’ meeting is any indication, the battle by the West to put Russia on the mat will be even fiercer.

As yet there is no indication whether India will acquiesce to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba addressing the gathering via a video link. Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko did not address the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers held in Bengaluru on February 24 and 25.

Amid a battle between the West on one side and Russia and China on the other, India will be hoping to play a key role it had performed at the G20 summit in Indonesia in November last year.

India had adopted the same mediatory role at the Bengaluru meeting where the portion on Ukraine in the “Outcome Document” stated that G20 was not the forum to resolve security issues, but added that “security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy”.

The rest of the portion on Ukraine mentioned in the Bengaluru Ministerial was a virtual replication of the language contained in the G20 Indonesia summit. India recognises that the West may press for stronger formulation at the forthcoming Delhi G20 Ministerial and has its task cut out in balancing the views of both protagonists in the conflict.

The West is likely to mount pressure till the summit on September 9 and 10, when it is likely to insist on the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.