The past year has seen a clutch of non-Western, developing economies emerge as potential power brokers in discussions around the war in Ukraine. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Africa have been flexing their diplomatic muscles, eager to act as go-betweens in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Western leaders are taking notice and are prepared to work with these players — even if it means turning a blind eye to their often dubious human rights records.

The recent gatherings of senior officials from dozens of countries in Copenhagen and Jeddah earlier this year for talks on ending the Ukraine war have shown increased momentum on this front — and crucially were backed by Ukraine. They are likely to be the nucleus for a peace agreement based on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s much-touted ten-point peace plan.

More non-Western voices are also coming to the table. The African Union is being admitted as a G20 member, India’s presidency confirmed this weekend. Brazil, which symbolically took over the G20 mantel from India at a ceremony here, has indicated it wants more of a role for Latin America.

As the geo-political power dynamics shift with a newly confident group of non-Western developing countries showing their clout, the G20 summit in India showed that the U.S. and the EU are prepared to throw their lot in with the rest of the world as they opt for collective action.

Whether that will benefit non-democratic countries like Russia and China is the big gamble.

— Eleni Courea contributed reporting.