Blinken presses Russia’s Lavrov in an unscheduled G-20 debate

The meeting came at a tense moment in relations between the great powers, just over a year after the outbreak of the Ukraine War. The division over Ukraine, demonstrated in the group’s failure to issue its customary joint statement, reflects broader problems exacerbated by the conflict, in everything from supply chains to energy to armaments to geopolitical loyalties.

China has largely sided with Russia in the war, providing Moscow with drones, navigation equipment, jamming technology, jet fighter parts and other high-tech goods, while also positioning itself as a potential peacemaker between Russia and Ukraine. The United States recently warned that Beijing is considering providing lethal weapons to Moscow, while China responded by pointing out that the United States is the largest arms exporter to Kiev.

India has interests in cooperating on regional security issues with the United States — to constrain China’s regional ambitions — but has avoided taking sides in Ukraine and continued to buy Russian oil. It is the largest of the developing countries that, despite American efforts, has refused to join the Western allies who support Ukraine.

The United States is seeking to rally its partners in Europe and Asia to counter what it sees as the rise of two warring rivals, with its national security priorities focused on how to drive Russia out of Ukraine and undermine Chinese aspirations to reunify the mainland. Taiwan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the G20 meeting that countries have failed to find solutions to growing global differences. As chair of the G20 this year, Mr. Modi warned on Thursday that countries were not achieving the main goals of global governance — preventing wars and promoting international cooperation on common issues — and that the effects were being felt most in the developing world. .

“You are meeting at a time of deep global divisions,” Mr. Modi told the foreign ministers in a recorded message. “It is natural that your discussions will be affected by the geopolitical tensions prevailing today. We all have our positions and our views on how to resolve these tensions.”

In their first in-person conversation since February 2022, Mr. Blinken called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for about 10 minutes with the goal of conveying three key messages, according to a senior State Department official.

The official said he had urged Russia to join the Nuclear New Beginning Treaty, after it formally suspended implementation of the treaty on Thursday. He also pressured Russia to release former US Navy SEAL Paul Whelan from Russian detention and stressed that the US and its allies would continue to support Ukraine “for as long as possible”.

“I told the Secretary of State what I and many others said last week at the United Nations and what many G20 foreign ministers said today: End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that will lead to just and lasting peace,” Mr. Blinken said. to reporters in New Delhi.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the two diplomats spoke briefly at Mr. Blinken’s request. “There were no talks, no meeting,” said Ms. Zakharova, according to Russia’s state media agency TASS.

The two men have spoken once on the phone since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and have attended summits together over the past year, but have not met in person. Mr. Blinken had said before the meeting that he did not intend to speak directly with his Russian counterpart, but indicated that they would participate in some joint sessions together.

Last week, Putin said in a speech that Moscow would backtrack on New START, the last remaining major nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia, and vowed to continue the military campaign in Ukraine as the diplomatic gulf between the two countries widens. Moscow and the West.

In his conversation with Mr. Lavrov, Mr. Blinken reiterated the US and its allies’ support for Ukraine in its fight to defend its territorial integrity against Russian aggression, a senior State Department official said. The official said the intention was to dissuade Moscow from “any notion that our support, or that of our allies and partners, might waver.”

Meanwhile, doubts grew in Europe about Ukraine’s ability to reoccupy all its lands, and Germany, France and Britain saw the possibility of strengthening relations between NATO and Ukraine as a way to encourage Kiev to start peace talks with Russia later. year, officials from the three governments said.

Mr. Blinken told reporters after Thursday’s meeting that Russia and China are the only two countries that have rejected a collective G20 declaration condemning the war in Ukraine. As a result, the assembly only issued a statement by the president rather than a customary joint statement.

Last week, G20 finance ministers failed to agree on a joint statement on the global economy at talks in Bengaluru, India, after Russia and China refused to characterize the Ukraine war. Instead, the two-day meeting only resulted in what was described as the “Chairman’s Brief,” which said that “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine” and that there were “varied assessments of the situation and sanctions.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang was also present, officials said, although he and Mr. Blinken did not speak privately. This week, Mr. Blinken and several other Biden administration officials said again that China is considering providing lethal aid to Russia to support its war in Ukraine and warned of the consequences Beijing could face if it continues to implement any such commitments, including sanctions.

“This is a common concern,” Mr. Blinken said. “Many other partners have raised this, not only with us but also directly with China, including here today.”

Last month, Mr. Blinken and China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, traded accusations over the downing of a Chinese zeppelin in a meeting at the Munich Security Conference. Mr. Blinken had earlier postponed a planned trip to Beijing after the US discovered the observation balloon.

–Ann M. Simmons contributed to this article.

Write to Vivian Salama at [email protected]