By India Blooms News Service Sep 10, 2023
New Delhi/UNI/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modis message to Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning the ongoing Ukraine war found its place in the G20 declaration of 2023 on Saturday.
The G20 declaration, issued amidst the escalating Ukraine crisis, strongly asserted that the use of nuclear weapons is absolutely unacceptable.
This declaration holds significant weight, particularly in contrast to the earlier stance of Western nations that had been advocating for a more forceful condemnation of Russias role in the Ukraine conflict.
In a notable shift from the language used in the previous years Bali declaration, the 2023 declaration refers to the conflict as the war in Ukraine, rather than the war against Ukraine, suggesting a potential softening of the G7 and EU positions.
Furthermore, the declaration avoids direct mention of Russia in reference to the Russia-Ukraine war, marking another significant linguistic change in the document.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed disappointment with the joint G20 declaration, labeling it as nothing to be proud of and criticizing its omission of any reference to Russia.
Oleg Nikolenko, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, shared an edited image of the declaration on Twitter highlighting sections of the text that were revised to align with Ukraines perspective.
G20 adopted a final declaration. We are grateful to the partners who tried to include strong wording in the text. However, in terms of Russias aggression against Ukraine, G20 has nothing to be proud of. This is how the main elements of the text could look to be closer to reality pic.twitter.com/qZqYluVKKS
Oleg Nikolenko (@OlegNikolenko_) September 9, 2023
This emphasized Ukraines view that it is a victim of unwarranted Russian aggression.
It is clear that the participation of the Ukrainian side (in the G20 meeting) would have allowed the participants to better understand the situation, Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.
Nikolenko expressed disappointment with the overall content of the G20 document but thanked Ukraines allies for their efforts in advocating for Ukraines position within the declaration.
Ukraine is grateful to the partners who tried to include strong formulations in the text, Nikolenko concluded.