US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end this war of aggression against Ukraine during a brief meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi.
This is the first time that Blinken has spoken face to face with Lavrov since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched more than a year ago. During the meeting, Blinken also raised the case of Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia.
The discussion lasted less than 10 minutes according to the Russian foreign ministry. The last time Blinken and Lavrov met was in January 2022 in Geneva. Earlier in the day, Lavrov accused Western countries of trying to influence neutral states to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while during the G20 meeting, he accused the West of encouraging Kyiv to continue the war. The failure of foreign ministers to agree on a joint statement indicates that differences over the war have hardened in the past year.
