Blinken pressed Lavrov in rare but brief meeting at G-20 summit in India

BLOOMBERG

Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a brief encounter with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in India, their first in-person meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
The top US diplomat pressed Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to move towards a peace deal with Ukraine and advocated for US citizens detained by Moscow, a Biden administration official said on Thursday.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry played down the interaction, saying the two conversed briefly at Blinken’s request on the sidelines of the G-20 session, underlining that the contact didn’t qualify as “talks or a meeting,” according to Interfax.
Blinken told Lavrov that the US and other international partners would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, a senior State Department official told reporters in a phone briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity. The conversation lasted about 10 minutes, he said.
Blinken urged Lavrov to implement the New Start nuclear weapons treaty and also pressed for the release of detained US citizen Paul Whelan, the official said.
Although Blinken and Lavrov have both attended international summits since the war, including the G-20 foreign ministers meeting last summer and at the United Nations General Assembly in September, the two men have not formally met since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Blinken has avoided meetings with Lavrov, arguing that they wouldn’t be productive while President Vladimir Putin showed no signs of engaging in real discussions to end the war.