US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke briefly Thursday at a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries in the first high-level meeting in months between the two countries.
US officials said Blinken and Lavrov spoke for about 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G20 conference in New Delhi. The brief meeting came as relations between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated while tensions over Russia’s war with Ukraine have soared.
A senior US official, speaking anonymously, said Blinken had “abused” Lavrov of any idea they might have that American. support for Ukraine is faltering.
The official declined to characterize Lavrov’s response but said Blinken did not get the impression that there would be any change in Russia’s behavior in the near future.
Lavrov, who did not mention speaking to Blinken, told reporters that Moscow will continue to press its actions in Ukraine. He shrugged off Western claims about Russia’s isolation, saying “we don’t feel isolated. It is the West that has isolated itself, and it will eventually realize that.”
He said Russia remains open to talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but he accused the West of effectively blocking such talks.
“I don’t remember any Western colleagues urging Ukraine to hold talks,” he said. “They encourage Ukraine to continue the war.”
Top G20 diplomats ended their contentious meeting in New Delhi on Thursday without consensus on the war in Ukraine, India’s foreign minister said.
China on Thursday joined Russia in refusing to support the demand for a withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine, according to a statement issued after the meeting.
The two countries were the only G20 members not to endorse the statement which called for a “full and unconditional withdrawal of Russia from the territory of Ukraine”.
As with most international events since last year, the division over the war in Ukraine and its impact on global energy and food supplies overshadowed the process.
Host India had appealed to all members of the divided G20 group to reach consensus on issues of particular concern to poorer countries even as the wider east-west divide over Ukraine could not be resolved.
The US official also said Blinken had told Lavrov that Russia should reverse its decision to suspend participation in the New START nuclear deal and that Moscow should release imprisoned American Paul Whelan.