NUSA DUA, Indonesia — He was a skunk at the tropical resort party, shunned by many, but not all.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov attended a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Bali on Friday, despite his country’s pariah status in Europe and beyond due to its war brutal in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken declined to meet with him, as did several other Western officials. Few even agreed to pose with him for customary photographs.
But to explain why Russia’s economy continues to function, Lavrov met directly with several ministers from major nations who refused to join the Western-led coalition against his country, including those from China, India, Brazil , Turkey, Argentina. and Indonesia.
During a speech at a plenary session devoted to food and energy insecurity, Mr. Blinken indirectly targeted Mr. Lavrov and his colleagues in Moscow, renewing accusations that the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports by the Black Sea prevented the export of vital grain.
“To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country,” Blinken said. “His grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking ports? You should let the grain out. He noted that the United States had committed more than $5 billion to address the issue.
A Western official said Mr Lavrov was not present for Mr Blinken’s remarks, having walked out just before Ukraine’s foreign minister spoke earlier in the session, leaving the speaking role to a subordinate who said she had not prepared remarks. Mr Lavrov also left a previous group session during the German Foreign Minister’s remarks.
But in his remarks to reporters, the famously sardonic Russian diplomat was provocative.
Mr Lavrov said ‘blatant Russophobia’ was driving Western nations to harm the global economy through sanctions against his country, and he blamed the US for failed diplomacy between Washington and Moscow .
The Russian diplomat said Western countries like the United States were acting contrary to the Group of 20’s mission to promote global economic health by maintaining their huge sanctions against his country.
“The fact that they are not using the G20 for the purpose it was created for is obvious,” he said.
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mr. Lavrov immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, calling him “directly responsible” for the military assault.
On Friday, he dismissed any suggestion that he was disappointed not to speak with Mr. Blinken, whom he had last spoken to at a mid-January meeting in Geneva that US officials considered a last-ditch effort to avoid an invasion.
“It’s not us who have abandoned all contacts, it’s the United States,” Lavrov said. “And we’re not chasing after anyone suggesting meetings. If they don’t want to talk, that’s their choice. I didn’t think it was necessary to start a confrontation.
Mr Lavrov also took the opportunity on Friday to disparage British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a day after Mr Johnson announced he would step down from his post. Mr Johnson had led one of the West’s most aggressive responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“They were trying to establish this new alliance – the UK, the Baltics, Poland and Ukraine,” Lavrov said, calling it an attempt to create “an English bridgehead on the continent” after Britain’s exit from the European Union.
“They were saying that NATO had isolated Russia,” Lavrov said. “It was his party that isolated Boris Johnson.”
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who was seen strolling and chatting with Mr Lavrov at the luxury hotel that hosted the gathering, said on Twitter that he and Mr. Lavrov had “exchanged views on contemporary regional and international issues, including the Ukrainian conflict and Afghanistan”. India enjoys friendly relations with Moscow, a longtime patron and source of arms sales, and has helped Russia overcome sanctions by increasing its purchases of Russian oil, at a steep discount.