Live: Russia’s war in Ukraine set to be focus of G20 talks in Bali

Issued on: 07/07/2022 – 07:51

9:57am: Russia says US ‘hype’ over WNBA player Griner does not help her cause

Amid growing concern that it is collecting international prisoners to use as political pawns, Russia said on Thursday that it was difficult to exchange prisoners with the United States and suggested Washington be silent about the fate of Brittney Griner, the US basketball player detained in Russia on drugs charges.

Referring to a letter that US President Joe Biden that NBC news reported he intends to send to Griner, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that “hype” around the case does not help, and that “this kind of correspondence does not help”.

In April, former U.S. marine Trevor Reed was released from a Russian prison, where he had been convicted of assaulting two police officers. He was freed in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who had been jailed on drug trafficking charges in the U.S.

Griner was arrested on Feb. 17 at Moscow’s Sheremteyevo airport, after cannabis-infused vaporiser cartridges were allegedly found in her lugggage. She faces ten years in prison on drugs charges.

7:08am: Russian-flagged cargo ship detained by Turkish authorities leaves port 

The Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy, suspected of carrying stolen Ukrainian grain, left the Turkish port of Karasu late on Wednesday, Refinitiv ship tracking data showed.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey said Turkish authorities had detained the ship. Reuters previously reported that Ukraine had asked Turkey to arrest the ship.

On Wednesday, Russia’s foreign ministry dismissed as false reports of the ship’s detention by authorities.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of stealing grain from territories seized by Russian forces since their invasion began in late February.

The Kremlin has previously denied that Russia has stolen any Ukrainian grain.

6:41am: Jacinda Ardern decries UN ‘failure’ over Ukraine war

The UN Security Council has failed in its response to Russia’s “morally bankrupt and illegal” invasion of Ukraine, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday.

The UN’s “failure” over Ukraine was caused by Russia’s position with a veto in the Security Council, she said in an address to the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think-tank during a trade visit to Australia.

“We must reform the United Nations so that we don’t have to rely on individual countries imposing their own autonomous sanctions.” 

Russia must be held to account for its invasion, she said, calling for the International Criminal Court in The Hague to get the resources it needs to probe and prosecute war crimes.

New Zealand would intervene as a third party in Ukraine’s case against Russia at the court, she added.

But the prime minister warned against taking a “black and white” view of the world, casting the Ukraine invasion as a war between the West and Russia or democracy against autocracy, and pushing away important players such as China.

5:40am: Russian FM arrives in Bali for G20 meeting

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has flown into Indonesia’s resort island of Bali for a meeting of G20 foreign ministers, which is set to be overshadowed by tensions triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The G20 gathering runs until Friday in host country Indonesia, which this year has grappled with the balancing act of running a global summit buffeted by geopolitical pressures and a global food crisis blamed on the war.

There was tight security on Thursday in Bali’s Nusa Dua area, where the summit is being held, as foreign diplomats descended on the tropical island for the meeting.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)