G20 summit: Trudeau says he’s disappointed that Zelenskyy hasn’t been invited

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed disappointment that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not been invited to the intergovernmental forum G20’s summit in New Delhi next month while assuring the latter that they will speak up strongly and continue to ensure the world is standing with Ukraine.

Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the UAE, Oman, Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, and Nigeria have been invited as “guest countries” to the summit. Ukraine was invited in a similar capacity to the G7 summit in Japan last year and that of NATO in Lithuania as a reaffirmation of support to the country amid its ongoing war with G20 member Russia.

HT has reported that there were indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin was unlikely to attend the summit in person.

In September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin that “today’s era is not of war” even as India has refrained from openly criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“I will be at the G20 in a week and I am disappointed that you won’t be included,” Trudeau told Zelenskyy during a telephonic conversation on the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence on Thursday. A video of the conversation was posted on Zelenskyy’s Instagram account. CBC News first reported the conversation.

“Together with our allies and partners, Canada will continue to do everything possible to support Ukraine until its territorial integrity is re-established,” a statement from Trudeau’s office quoted him as saying.

A separate readout of the conversation with Zelenskyy noted they discussed “military, financial, and humanitarian needs, now and into the future.”

There was no immediate response from India, which has hosted global leaders and a series of meetings related to 32 sectors across the country since assuming the G20 presidency in December. The events will culminate with the meeting of heads of the governments and states of the world’s 20 largest economies in New Delhi on September 9-10.

Trudeau will be among the leaders to attend the summit even as his office has not yet released his schedule for the visit to India. It will be his first trip to India since February 2018. Controversies including the one related to the invitation for a convicted Khalistani terrorist to an official dinner reception marred Trudeau’s visit to India in 2018. Pro-Khalistan activities in Canada have continued to remain an irritant in the India-Canada ties.

India in June cautioned Canada that the activities of Khalistani elements could impact bilateral relations and have security implications after a float depicting the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was part of an event pro-Khalistan elements organised in the Greater Toronto Area. The float sparked anger in India as it depicted the assassination as “revenge” for Operation Bluestar, the action Gandhi ordered in 1984 to flush out separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and his supporters from Amritsar’s Golden Temple.

Trudeau is expected to have a bilateral meeting with Modi on the margins of the G20 summit but there has been no official confirmation of this yet.