The G-20 in Buenos Aires ended with some certainties and with many unresolved problems. Basically, it was yet another international meeting in which the leaders of the major world powers met to demonstrate their ability to dialogue. Then the real decisions, the authentic ones, they will be taken as usual in other locations.

It is certainly not in these forums that the fate of the world can be decided. And with a United States presidency devoted to bilateralism and against multilateral agreements, it would have been really difficult to see a decisive G-20.
However, even in its evanescence, the meeting of the greats 20 of the Earth had the merit of providing images that are significant for understanding certain dynamics, to understand how the world is evolving and also to understand how international relations are changing, and to clarify who the rising and falling leaders are in the international forum.
And if there is anyone who can certainly be called the winner of this international meeting, that's Vladimir Putin, who managed to take advantage of the Buenos Aires summit to confirm that he is the leader who in recent years has not only been able to catalyze the attention of the media, but also to build a role as mediator between the different needs expressed by international politics. And he also confirmed it in the Argentine G-20, despite coming from a period of extreme tension due to the crisis in the Sea of ​​Azov and the seizure of Ukrainian patrol boats.
It was thought that this would be the G-20 where the world would condemn Putin for what happened with Kiev. And instead, apart from the timid requests of Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, the world seems to have almost forgotten what happened in the Black Sea. And apart from Donald Trump's move to cancel the summit with the Russian president due to the failure to return the detained Ukrainian sailors (a reaction which among other things did not bring sensational results), the rest of the international community has not taken positions of clear condemnation at all. On the contrary, if there is a scene that was constant from the Buenos Aires summit, it was that of world leaders seeking a meeting with the Russian president. Not least the president of the United States himself, which canceled the bilateral, but he met the head of the Kremlin twice.
In the meantime, Putin met all the most important personalities of the G-20 confirming his alliance plot. The Russian president met Angela Merkel, with whom he had a long working breakfast in which all the most important issues of the relationship between Berlin and Moscow were addressed, starting with Ukraine. The German chancellor asked the Russian president to reduce tension between Russia and Ukraine. “The emphasis was on the situation in Syria and between Russia and Ukraine on the Kerch Strait and the Sea of ​​Azov”, explained the chancellor's spokesperson, Steffen Seibert. And the two leaders agreed to start talks based on the so-called Normandy format.
The Russian president then met Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he discussed the central issues of relations between Ankara and Moscow for more than an hour. The two leaders spoke about Syria, given that the Idlib truce still entails a very important stalemate in the stabilization of a country that still struggles to think about its future. And they also talked about gas, pillar of relations between Russia and Türkiye. The energy axis between the two Black Sea states is very important for understanding the dynamics of the region. And Putin's presence in Istanbul for the ceremony of completing the offshore part of the Turkish Stream was an eloquent image.
But if there is another snapshot of Putin's absolute preponderance compared to other world leaders, this was certainly given by the Russian president's bilateral meeting with Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman. At a time when the Saudi dignitary is distanced from everyone for the horrible killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Putin not only had the luxury of meeting him in a face-to-face meeting that many preferred to avoid, but he also showed himself publicly friendly with the heir to the throne of Riyadh with that image of the warm greeting between the two leaders. A scene that should not be relegated to the background: Putin wanted to be immortalized exactly at that moment to make the whole world understand that he could easily high-five bin Salman, ignoring the "dangerousness" of the gesture.
The final declaration of the G-20 is, if we want, the "masterpiece" of the Russian strategy. There is not a point in the program that could harm Moscow's interests. The emphasis of the text is entirely on multilateral agreements, very vague international problems, Paris climate agreements, fight against terrorism, less tense approach regarding international trade. But there is no point at which Putin can consider himself affected. It's a much more troublesome arrangement for China, United States and other emerging powers. But certainly not for Russia. And the international showcase in Buenos Aires served to crystallize this image: its leadership is taking on increasingly consolidated characteristics.
Source: http://www.occhidellaguerra.it/g20-putin/