For the first time since the war began. Meeting of Blinken and Lavrov

The US Secretary of State and the Russian Foreign Minister spoke for about 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Delhi.

United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinke and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have not met in person since February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. They last spoke in Geneva in January 2022. On the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Summit, a new meeting between the two diplomats took place and lasted about 10 minutes. We talked about Ukraine and nuclear weapons.

USA comments

As noted in the US State Department, Blinken reiterated to Lavrov that America intends to help Ukraine as much as necessary, and that Russia should return to compliance with the START treaty, as well as release the American citizen Paul Whelan imprisoned in Russia.

“I told the foreign minister what I said and many others said last week at the UN and what many G20 ministers said today: stop this war of aggression, engage in meaningful negotiations that could lead to a just and stable peace.” , – Anthony Blinken told reporters after the meeting.

Regarding the strategic offensive arms agreement, which Russia formally abandoned, Blinken said that he told Lavrov that the United States, regardless of any external situation, is ready for negotiations and actions in the field of control of the nuclear weapons – as it was in their relationship with the USSR during the Cold War.

The Secretary of State is not under the impression that a change in Russia’s position will come soon after the discussion, an unnamed US official told Sky News, declining to specify Lavrov’s reaction.

It is worth noting that the US Secretary of State before the G20 meeting said that he does not plan to talk to Lavrov.

RF commented

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there were no actual negotiations, and Blinken himself requested such contact, to which Lavrov agreed.

Russian news agencies reported that the two officials did not meet on the sidelines of the summit, but spoke as they walked.

At Lavrov’s press conference, which took place after the G20 meeting, there was not a single mention of a conversation with Blinken.

EPA
Lavrov at the G20 summit

Atmosphere of war

The tension over Russia’s continued aggression in Ukraine was felt during the talks in Delhi, despite the Indian prime minister urging G20 foreign ministers to put aside their differences first.

“We are meeting at a time of deep global division,” Narendra Modi said and urged the assembled ministers to try to find a common language.

However, despite the efforts of the Indian prime minister and his team, even before the meeting began, it was clear that the topic of war had become dominant.

“This war must be condemned,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell told reporters on the eve of the meeting’s opening. “I hope and I am sure that India will use its diplomatic skills to inform Russia that this war must end.”

So far, India has avoided direct criticism of Russia, which remains New Delhi’s main arms supplier, and has consistently abstained from voting at the UN on resolutions condemning Russian aggression.

In addition, with the outbreak of war and the imposition of sanctions against Russia, India has significantly increased its purchases of Russian oil, which should benefit its economy greatly, since it buys oil at a serious discount.

Blinken noted that the G20 meeting had been marred by Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified war”, while Lavrov again accused the West of trying to “bury” an agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grains.

G20 diplomats also failed to agree on a joint final declaration at a meeting in India over a dispute over the war in Ukraine.

Instead, India, which chaired the meeting, published its own summary of the discussions. Most states once again strongly condemned Russia’s war of aggression and demanded the unconditional withdrawal of troops from the territory of Ukraine. The Foreign Ministers of Russia and China, Sergei Lavrov and Qin Gang, disagreed on two relevant points.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters at the end of the meeting that the joint final declaration was not adopted because of the “very polarized views of some countries.”