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Added on the 01/04/2022 12:56:00 - Copyright : France 24 EN
During the concluding G20 Finance ministers' press conference in Bangaluru, the secretary in charge of the Indian Department of Economic affairs, Ajay Seth, says that "all 18 countries felt that the war has got implications on the global economy" and needed to be mentioned. Only China and Russia did not want to sign up to the wording on Ukraine. G20 host India has also refused to condemn Russia, which is New Delhi's biggest arms supplier and has become a major source of oil for India since the invasion. SOUNDBITE
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accuses China of "fuelling" Russia's invasion of Ukraine through the transfers of dual use materials and weapons components from Chinese businesses to Russia for use in Moscow's military expansion. "If China purports on the one hand to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can't on the other hand be fuelling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War," Blinken tells a press conference after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri where he had urged urged his European counterparts to increase pressure on Beijing. SOUNDBITE
Sweden joining NATO shows Russian President Vladimir Putin "failed" in his Ukrainian war strategy of weakening the alliance, its chief Jens Stoltenberg says. The Kremlin's invasion not only prompted formerly non-aligned nations Sweden and Finland to come under NATO's defence umbrella, but now "Ukraine is closer to NATO membership than ever before," Stoltenberg adds. SOUNDBITE
US President Joe Biden says during his State of the Union address that Ukraine is capable of stopping Putin if the US provides Kyiv the "weapons it needs to defend itself." SOUNDBITE
NATO forces cross the Vistula River at Korzeniewo in Poland as part of the US-led defence alliance's Exercise Dragon 24, involving around 4,500 soldiers and almost 1,000 vehicles. Dragon 24 is itself part of Exercise Steadfast Defender 24, NATO's largest military exercise since the Cold War, which is designed to test its defences in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine. IMAGES
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves his hotel in Tirana, Albania, where he arrived late Tuesday, to meet with leaders from southeast Europe, seeking to keep support and weapons flowing to Kyiv as Russia makes gains on the battlefield two years after invading its neighbour. IMAGES