Comment SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT — From U.N. climate talks in this Red Sea beach resort to Group of 20 meetings on the shores of Bali, Russian diplomats were abroad looking at key global gatherings this week — avoiding and blocked due to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Russia had big plans for the UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt, known as COP27, planning four round table discussions. No outsiders agreed to speak on the panel. the Russians were left to talk among themselves. “I invited everyone but no one [will come]”, he lamented former NHL star Viacheslav Fetisov, who is a member of the Russian State Duma and president of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation; Fetisov scrolled through his phone, showing pre-war photos showing meetings with US climate envoy John F. Kerry. In one shot, Kerry held up a hockey jersey on which Fetisov had written in marker: “John, get ready and let’s play hockey at the North Pole and change the world for the better! Your Russian friend, Slava Fetisov.” “Right now, I don’t think so [Kerry] he will shake hands with Slava,” said Sergei Rybakov, another member of the delegation, using Fetisov’s nickname. The war seems to be big for the climate conference. Just weeks before it opened, Russia began launching heavy attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, heightening concerns about a global energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion. At the G-20, the annual gathering of world powers, Russia also found itself in an unusual position: a main topic of discussion rather than a leading player. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi – who has remained friendly to Russia throughout the war, welcoming Russian tourists and hosting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this year – used his COP27 speech to call for an end of battles. “This is a call from our conference,” he said. “Let this destruction and killing end.” Speaking to delegates via video call, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of waging war not only against the Ukrainian people but also against the country’s natural resources. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who spoke at the conference in Sharm El Sheikh last week, he said: “Putin’s hideous war in Ukraine and rising energy prices around the world are no reason to slow down climate change. It’s a reason to act faster.” In Bali, Sunak promised to “call out the Putin regime” and Canadian leader Justin Trudeau said he was “not interested” in talking to Lavrov, who will attend the G-20 in Putin’s place. Trudeau’s goal at the summit, he said, was to ensure “that the world comes together to reinforce that Putin made a terrible, terrible choice when he decided to invade a peaceful neighboring country.” Unlike previous G-20 summits, there is unlikely to be a “family photo” at the end of this year’s meetings in Bali, in part because several government leaders said they would not attend if Russian representatives were present, Indonesian officials said. A White House official noted that the leaders of the Group of 7 countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States – did not participate in any group photos with Russian officials in nearly 15 meetings this year. “Russia is waging war and killing innocent civilians,” said the White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “I think it makes sense not to have a family photo from any angle, not just from the US” When asked if the Russian delegation felt left out at COP27, Fetisov scoffed. “What do you think?” he answered. Russia is one of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, and Fetisov said it was short-sighted to ignore his country’s perspective at global climate talks. Russia allows methane leaks to endanger the planet “Without Russia, you cannot solve these problems,” Fetisov said of the climate crisis. “The crash [in Ukraine] it may end tomorrow. But you lose another year to make the right decision for the future.” “We did not come to Egypt to talk about the situation in Ukraine,” he added. “We came here to share our concerns… to share our experience… to share our knowledge.” The experience was disappointing for Fetisov — once celebrated as a Stanley Cup champion in the United States, now chastised by Washington for voting in favor of Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions. He is banned from traveling to several countries, including the United States, where his daughter lives. “If [COP27] I was going to be in another part of the world, I couldn’t come,” he said. The same applies to the members of the Russian delegation to the G-20 in Indonesia. For months before the summit, Indonesian officials worried that Putin would attend, prompting other world leaders to boycott the event. Two days before the summit and hours after Russian troops were forced out of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the Russian embassy in Indonesia announced that Putin would not attend and that Lavrov would take his place. Bali Governor Wayan Koster greeted Lavrov with a performance by Balinese dancers when he arrived on the island on Sunday night. But on Monday, as other G-20 leaders began their busy schedules of bilateral meetings and panel discussions, Lavrov was largely missing from the action. Citing Indonesian officials, The Associated Press reported that he fell ill after his arrival – a claim immediately denied by Russia’s foreign ministry, which shared a video of him reviewing documents at his seaside hotel. The Russian delegation’s muted presence marks a stark contrast to the 2019 G-20 summit, the last one Putin attended in person, where he made a splash by meeting the United States, China, India and others. A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Indonesia did not respond to questions about whether Lavrov planned to meet with officials on the sidelines of the summit. China has not announced any formal meeting with Russia, although Beijing joined Moscow on Tuesday in opposing the use of the word “war” in a joint communique to describe the invasion of Ukraine. At G-20 talks, China opposes calling Russian invasion of Ukraine ‘war’ Activist groups say world leaders must go beyond the condemnations at the G-20. “If all Western powers want to do in Bali is denigrate Russia, they will find that many non-Western colleagues will not play along,” said Richard Gowan, who oversees UN advocacy for the International Crisis Group. . Western countries should work with leaders from China and India to persuade Russia to reject the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Gowan said. On Tuesday night, the Russian delegation gathered a small crowd at a COP27 event, but was quickly interrupted by activists: “You are war criminals!” shouted one. “You’re killing my people!” shouted another. UN security escorted them out of the room. Understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict See 3 more stories
