G20's Ukraine problem

War rather than multilateral issues dominates

The war in Ukraine and the deepening geopolitical fault-lines as a result of it appear to have hijacked the G20 agenda. Over the past fortnight, two ministerial meetings — of finance and foreign affairs— failed to secure a consensus over a joint communiqué, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine being the key point of difference. Both indicate a hardening of positions by Russia and China; the wording of both communiqués on the war was identical to the one contained in the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration, to which leaders of the two countries had agreed less than four months ago on November