NEW DELHI (AP) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke Thursday in the highest level of in-person talks between the two countries since Russia’s invasion of the Group of 20 at a meeting of top diplomats. Ukraine.
The short encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow fell apart over Russia’s war with Ukraine and tensions rose amid disagreements, complaints and accusations over other matters ranging from arms control to embassy staff and prisoners.
United States officials said Blinken and Lavrov spoke for about 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 summit of foreign ministers in New Delhi. But there was no sign of any progress and the conference ended with the group unable to reach a consensus on the Ukraine war.
At a news conference, Blinken said he told Lavrov that the US would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and would push for an end to the war through diplomatic terms, to which Kiev agreed.
Blinken told Lavrov, “End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace.” But, he added that “President Putin has shown zero interest in engaging, saying there is nothing to talk about until Ukraine accepts the new regional reality.”
Blinken said he urged Russia to “retract its irresponsible decision and return” to participation in the New START nuclear treaty.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, top center, walks past Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on March 2, 2023. (Olivier Douliery/Pool Photo via AP)
Blinken told Lavrov, “Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries.”
Blinken said he also urged Moscow to release detained American Paul Whelan, adding that “the United States has made a serious offer. Russia should take it up.
Earlier, Blinken had said in the G-20 meeting that Russia’s war with Ukraine cannot go on without challenge.
“Unfortunately, this meeting is again overshadowed by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine, its deliberate campaign of destruction against civilian targets, and its assault on the core principles of the United Nations Charter,” he said, in remarks released by the State Department. According to .
“We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine for the sake of international peace and economic stability,” Blinken said. He noted that 141 countries had voted to condemn Russia at the United Nations on the one-year anniversary of the invasion.
Nevertheless, many G-20 members, including hosts India, China and South Africa, chose to abstain from that vote and, despite appeals by top Indian officials to look beyond their differences on Ukraine and build consensus on other issues, The foreign ministers were unable to do so or agree on a final communique.
In this combination of photos, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, respectively, are shown attending the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Olivier Douliery/Pool Photo via AP)
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that there were “differences” on the issue of war in Ukraine “which we could not resolve because different parties had different views. If we had a full meeting of views on all issues, it would be a collective There would have been a statement.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier appealed to all members of the fractured G-20 to reach consensus on issues of particular concern to poor countries, even if the wider East-West divide over Ukraine could not be overcome.
“We all have our own positions and our own perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved,” Modi said. “We must not allow issues we cannot solve together to cloud what we can.”
China and Russia objected to two paragraphs taken from the previous G-20 declaration in Bali last year, according to a summary of Thursday’s meeting released by India.
The paragraphs state that the war in Ukraine is causing extreme human suffering while increasing fragility in the global economy, increasing the need to uphold international law, and that “the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable”. “
Lavrov, who did not mention speaking with Blinken when holding a news conference after the G20 session, told reporters that Moscow would continue its actions in Ukraine. He rejected Western claims of Russia’s isolation, saying, “We don’t feel isolated. It is the West that has isolated itself, and it will eventually realize it.”
He said Russia was open to talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but accused the West of effectively blocking such talks.
Smoke rises after shelling in the besieged city of Bakhmut amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 27, 2023. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)
“They are calling us to negotiate, but I don’t remember any Western ally calling Ukraine for talks,” he said. “They are encouraging Ukraine to continue the war.”
Lavrov also mocked US threats against China, which has offered a peace plan for Ukraine that has been praised by Moscow but rejected by Washington and its Western allies.
“Our Western allies have lost self-control, forgotten their manners and put diplomacy aside, switching exclusively to blackmail and threats,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the content of the conversation, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Blinken had asked to speak to Lavrov.
It was their first contact since last summer, when Blinken spoke with Lavrov by phone about a US offer to release Whalen and formerly detained WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russia. Griner is later released in an exchange for jailed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but Whelan remains in custody in Russia.
Whalen, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been held for four years on espionage charges that his family and the US government have said are baseless.
The last time Blinken and Lavrov met in person was in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2022, on the eve of Russia’s invasion. At that meeting, Blinken warned Lavrov of the consequences Russia would face if it went ahead with its planned military campaign, but also sought to address some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grievances about the US and NATO. Did.
Those talks proved inconclusive as Russia pressed forward with its plans to invade, and Blinken then canceled a scheduled follow-up meeting with Lavrov that had been set for February 24, 2022, just two days before Moscow would eventually invade .
The two men have attended several international conferences together since the war began, most notably last year’s G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia, but they had not come face-to-face until Thursday.