Rishi Sunak has told President Putin’s foreign secretary to “end this barbaric war” in his first face-to-face confrontation with Russia.
The prime minister warned that China was the biggest state threat to Britain’s economy but told world leaders that ending the war in Ukraine would be “transformative” for the global economy.
Sunak was seen glowering at Sergey Lavrov at the opening session of the G20 summit in Bali, where the new prime minister will meet many world leaders, including President Biden, for the first time.
At an event where he hopes to speak to President Xi, Sunak called China a “systemic challenge to our values”, but stopped short of the tougher language favoured by his predecessor.
By contrast, Sunak used the start of the summit