The G20 declaration, which hit snags on the language to describe the Ukraine war, amounted to a "coup" for host Prime Minister Narendra Modi though the final compromise statement reflected a stand far softer than those the US and its Western allies have adopted on Russia, the world media said on Sunday.
India managed to hammer out an unexpected consensus among the G20 countries on the contentious issue of Ukraine through a series of hectic negotiations with emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia playing a leading role in reaching the breakthrough on the first day itself.
Leaders gathered for the two-day annual Group of 20 Summit managed to agree on a 'G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration' laying out shared views on climate change and economic development but showed the fractures within the group by stopping short of explicitly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Diplomats had been working furiously to draft a final joint statement in the lead-up to the summit but hit snags on language to describe the Ukraine war.
The New York Times said a painstakingly negotiated declaration Saturday evening at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi omitted any condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine or its brutal conduct of the war, instead lamenting the suffering of the Ukrainian people. "This year there were low expectations that the divided group would reach any sort of consensus with Ukraine," it said. "The eventual compromise statement amounted to a coup for the summit's host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but still reflected a position far softer (than) those the United States and its Western allies have adopted individually," CNN commented.
The G20 summit in New Delhi was one of the most complicated in the history of the bloc, Russia's G20 sherpa, Svetlana Lukash, said on Saturday. "I believe that it was probably one of the most complicated G20 summits in the almost 15-year history of the forum's existence. It took almost 20 days before the summit and five days on the ground to agree on a declaration," Lukash was quoted as saying by Russia's official Tass news agency.
The NYT also highlighted a project announced during the summit to create a rail and shipping corridor linking India to the Middle East and, eventually, Europe.
The paper said though the project lacked key details, including a time frame or budget, it represented much softer than usual rhetoric about Russia from US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders, who have spent the better part of two years spending billions on arming Ukraine and burning untold domestic political capital building support for the war.
Biden spent most of his time at the summit quietly nurturing his relationship with Narendra Modi, it said. Biden, like previous presidents, is trying to bring India closer, the paper quoted Richard N. Haass, a foreign policy veteran and former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, as saying. "He's having limited success, but that's the nature of the relationship. That's baked into the cake here," Haass said.
India's G20 presidency comes at a moment of contradiction for the country: Its rise to a bigger role on the world stage coincides with increasing divisions at home, the paper said.
The Delhi declaration appears designed to allow both the West and Russia to find positives. But in the process, it has used language that is not as strong in its condemnation of Moscow as it was in Bali last year, BBC said. Importantly, the declaration specifies "the war in Ukraine" rather than "the war against Ukraine."
This choice of words could have increased the likelihood of Russia endorsing the declaration. Ukraine -- which took part in the Bali summit -- was not invited this year, and its response to the declaration has been critical, it said.
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