Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a joint news conference with Argentina's President Mauricio Macri at the Casa Rosada Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 1, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

BERLIN (Reuters) - The G20 summit in Argentina failed to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for his actions with regard to Ukraine, despite significant efforts by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in bilateral meetings, a key Merkel ally said.

“President Putin escaped nearly unscathed with his renewed aggression against Ukraine,” Juergen Hardt, foreign policy spokesman for Merkel’s conservatives in parliament, said in a statement on Monday.

He said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman missed an opportunity at the event both to provide details about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and to start to rebuild trust.