Ukraine’s allies and Russia traded blame Tuesday for a dramatic escalation of the war in Europe, dominating the final day of talks at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The two-day gathering ended with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appealing to the world’s most powerful leaders to save stalled U.N. climate talks in Azerbaijan, calling it a matter of the planet’s “survival.”
Joe Biden, attending his last summit as US president before handing over power to Donald Trump – a well-known climate skeptic – also appealed for urgent action.
“History is watching us,” he urged.
But Biden’s decision to abruptly reverse key US policy on Ukraine in the final weeks of his term has diverted attention from Brazil’s anti-poverty, anti-emissions G20 agenda.
On the eve of the gathering, Biden gave Kiev the green light to use US missiles to strike deep inside Russia for the first time, an apparent response to Moscow’s infusion of North Korean troops to fight in Ukraine .
‘Listen to reason’
The move prompted the Kremlin to announce it was loosening its rules on the use of nuclear weapons, causing concern among Kiev’s supporters in Washington, European capitals and elsewhere.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was at the G20, declared that the United States and Russia “are on the verge of direct military conflict.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized “irresponsible rhetoric coming from Russia”, with a spokesman for the US National Security Council expressing the same sentiment.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had asked Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to “use all his influence” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to get him to “listen to reason.”
Xi, who has presented himself as a defender of the international order as the new Trump era dawns, held frequent meetings with other leaders in Rio.
At each turn, the Chinese leader, who was greeted with even more fanfare than lame-duck Biden, has insisted that the world is facing a new period of “turbulence.”
This summer China and Brazil unveiled plans to bring Russia and Ukraine back to the negotiating table, but Kiev rejected them because Moscow did not have to back down first.
The summit’s joint declaration made no mention of Russian aggression, saying only that the leaders welcomed “all relevant and constructive initiatives supporting a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace” in Ukraine.
tax the super rich
President Lula used his summit hosting duties to rally support for the global campaign against hunger and try to speed up the stalled COP29 climate talks in the Azerbaijan capital Baku.
“We cannot leave the work of Baku to Belém,” Lula said Tuesday, referring to the Amazonian city that will host next year’s U.N. climate talks.
But the G20 statement on the matter fell short of what was demanded by climate negotiators gathered in Azerbaijan.
While acknowledging the need for trillions of dollars in climate finance for poor countries, leaders failed to explicitly mention the need to move away from fossil fuels.
Lula said next year’s conference would be the “last chance” to avoid “irreversible” damage caused by global warming.
Biden, who is using the concluding tour of South America to promote his climate legacy, told his G20 counterparts: “I urge us to keep the faith and move forward.”
“This is the greatest threat to humanity’s existence.”
But he missed the first group photo of the summit, symbolizing the elderly leader’s impending disappearance from the global stage, his absence not noticed by his comrades.
Another photo was taken Tuesday that included Biden.
Lula, who handed over the G20 presidency to fellow Global South advocate South Africa, won on two key projects.
The leftist, who grew up in poverty, brought together the leaders of 80 countries, including reluctant Argentinian President Javier Miley, into a coalition to end world hunger.
And at his insistence, G20 members also agreed to cooperate in making the world’s billionaires pay more taxes, a key demand of anti-poverty campaigners.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
