G20: Germany's Scholz voices regret over final communique

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday slammed the final communique delivered at the Group of 20 industrialized nations, or G20, summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"It is too little when the G20 cannot find the words to make it clear Russia is responsible [for the war in Ukraine]. It's not what I would have liked," he said.

Pointing to the grim anniversary that the day brought, Scholz railed against fellow G20 leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin, "1,000 days in which people have had to suffer for his blind megalomania, for his scheme to enlarge his territory simply through violence."

Macron urges Putin to 'listen to reason,' and China to 'exert influence' 

French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to "listen to reason" at the summit, at a relatively rare event still involving senior Russian representation in Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"I truly want to call on Russia to listen to reason here. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council it has responsibilities," he said, accusing Russia of becoming, "a force for global destabilization."

During a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping — a key ally of Putin's — Macron told reporters he had urged his Chinese counterpart to "use all his influence" to push the Russians toward de-escalation.

Xi has "the capacity to negotiate with President Putin so that he halts his attacks" on Ukraine and reconsiders his new nuclear stance, said Macron. 

The French president said he also broached neighboring North Korea's decision to support Putin's invasion during his talks with Xi.

Scholz sticks by decision to withhold Taurus missiles

Despite his dissatisfaction with the final communique's comments on Ukraine, German Chancellor Scholz defended his own prior decision to withhold delivery of longer-distance missiles to Kyiv, saying it was the right choice.

Scholz pointed out that Germany is and will remain Ukraine's biggest individual supporter in Europe. At the same time, he underscored what he said was the importance of "acting with prudence."

Scholz said he opposed delivering long-range missiles early on and that he was right to do so as this would have forced German troops to get involved in target selection deep inside Russia, saying, "I don't think it would be right" to participate in the conflict like that. 

G20 on the Middle East

Although he appreciated G20 calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, Scholz said he "regretted" that the communique did not address Israel's right to defend itself in the face of threats from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran as the conflict in the Middle East continues to spread. He was also unhappy that the paper failed to place blame for the spread of the conflict on the militant Islamist group Hamas.

"I very much regret that there was no consensus. It would have done the situation good if we had said: everything started with a horrific and brutal terrorist attack on Israel."     

The US, EU, Japan and several other nations have named Hamas a terrorist organization.

Ultimately, said Scholz, "it is becoming clear how much geopolitical tensions are also having an impact on the G20… The wind blowing in international relations is getting harsher."

Climate change, energy and the UN

The leaders' declaration included several aspects based on the priorities of the Brazilian presidency of the group, such as the fight against hunger and climate change as well as reform of global governance.

It reaffirmed the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 C and called for a substantial "scaling up of climate finance from billions to trillions from all sources" to support the transition to green energy. 

US President Joe Biden used the final day of talks to announce hundreds of millions of dollars in new climate and development pledges.

The G20 also stated an intent to make the UN Security Council more representative.

js/rt (AFP, Reuters, AP)