At G20 summit, Russia plans to seek confirmation of status as ‘reliable and guaranteed’ supplier of energy resources

Moscow, Aug 31 (PTI) Russia will seek to confirm its status as a “reliable and guaranteed supplier” of energy resources and export products to the world at the G20 Summit, the foreign ministry here has said as it confirmed the attendance of foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in New Delhi for the key meeting.

Lavrov will attend the meeting instead of President Vladimir Putin, the ministry said, indicating that the Russian foreign minister could also discuss the issue of the grain deal during his bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G20 summit to be held on September 9 and 10.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the US-led Western countries have imposed crippling sanctions on Moscow, including a price cap on Russian oil by G7-plus nations, in order to reduce its ability to finance the war on Ukraine.

The West has also criticised Russia for violating the Black Sea grain deal with Kyiv which would prevent crucial grain exports from Ukraine from reaching the world markets.

At the G20 summit, “we will pay special attention to confirming Russia’s status as a reliable and guaranteed supplier of energy resources and export products, to specific proposals by the Russian side to expand multilateral cooperation, in particular through the implementation of the Greater Eurasian Partnership,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying in a media briefing by state-run news agency TASS on Wednesday.

The senior diplomat said during the events at the G20 summit “the Russian delegation will definitely emphasise the issue” that Russia “has always been a reliable supplier, in particular, of energy resources, despite any changes in the world, illegitimate sanctions, pressure and so on”.

“We have been, are and remain a reliable supplier of energy resources for the entire international community,” the spokesperson said.

Russia will also detail its views on the need to reform global economic governance in light of the emergence of a polycentric world order and the redistribution of industrial power in favour of developing countries, as well as to counteract the arbitrary and illegitimate unilateral Western sanctions, she said.

Zakharova said Russia will also be looking for sustainable solutions in the field of digital transformation, reducing risks in the field of energy and food security, and carrying out the energy transition in the most efficient way possible.

Russia at the summit intends to “promote principled approaches to the problem of achieving sustainable development goals, key challenges in this area, the weakening of the world economy due to Western sanctions, as well as the terrorist attacks, conflicts, and disruption of supply chains caused by them”, she said.

The Russian delegation also plans to share their assessment of the risks of the forced greening’ of the economy, especially for the most vulnerable countries of the world, “because the West has managed to politicise the topic of environment protection, and politicise it to the extreme when it is not just thoughtless, but harmful”, the TASS report said quoting the diplomat.