Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during the meeting of G-20 foreign ministers in Johannesburg that terrorist groups around the world are "fed" by supplies of Western weapons flowing from Ukraine, TASS reports, quoted by News.bg.
"The threat of international terrorism, which has acquired a new dimension as a result of NATO's military adventures in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Syria, remains acute. Terrorist groups around the world are fed by supplies of Western weapons flowing from Ukraine," Lavrov stressed.
The minister also noted that Western countries, in the spirit of double standards, "divide the fighters into 'their' and 'foreign'". "In Europe, such a short-sighted policy has already led to terrorist attacks on the 'Nord Stream'" gas pipelines," the Russian Foreign Minister recalled.
The G20 Foreign Ministers' Forum is being held in Johannesburg on February 20 and 21. The meeting is attended by 15 G20 foreign ministers, as well as four deputy foreign ministers, with the United States represented by the chargé d'affaires of the US Embassy in South Africa. Russia is represented by Lavrov.
South Africa has also invited ministers from nine non-G20 countries. They include Angola, Egypt, Spain, Ireland, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Norway, the UAE and Ethiopia.
The meeting began amid deep divisions over the war in Ukraine, trade disputes and the absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It is the first G20 meeting to be held in Africa, hosted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The forum, which brings together the world's 20 largest economies, accounting for about 85% of global GDP and three-quarters of world trade, has traditionally struggled to reach consensus. The war in Ukraine, however, has further deepened these contradictions, and Donald Trump's new foreign policy and trade strategies are worsening tensions in international relations.
The Trump administration has pointedly refused to participate in the G20 meeting. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the forum's previously agreed-upon agenda, which included themes of "diversity, equality, and inclusion", "very poor" and announced that the United States would not send representatives.
In addition, tensions between the United States and South Africa have escalated after Trump cut off U.S. financial aid to the country. The reason for this was an ideological dispute over South Africa's land redistribution policies and its lawsuit against Israel in the International Court of Justice for genocide.
The G20 meeting is taking place at a time when Trump is sharply changing the American position on the war in Ukraine. Instead of continuing his campaign to isolate Russia, he is pushing for rapid peace talks and blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the ongoing conflict. This stance deeply upsets some of the US's European allies, who feel marginalized in the peace process.
This opens up opportunities for China, which is already using weakened transatlantic ties to expand its influence. Beijing's foreign ministry said that "a sound and stable relationship between China and the EU is more necessary than ever".