Blinken and lavrov meet for the first time since russia's full-scale war
The Secretary of State of the United States and the minister of Foreign Affairs of russia spoke briefly on the sidelines of today's meeting of G20 countries on March 2.
Antony Blinken and sergei lavrov spoke for about 10 minutes during a meeting at a conference in New Delhi, Sky News reports.
The top diplomats from the United States and russia spoke face-to-face on Thursday for the first time since moscow's full-scale war in Ukraine.
Blinken called on russia to reverse its decision to suspend participation in the main nuclear treaty on strategic offensive weapons.
He has underlined to lavrov that the US would support Ukraine for "as long as it takes" – a line which has been repeated by president Joe Biden.
Finally, he urged moscow to release detained American Paul Whelan, who was captured in russia in 2018.
Blinken did not get the impression that a change in russia's operation would come any time soon after the discussion, said the US official, who refused to characterize how lavrov responded.
russian news agencies are reporting that the two officials did not meet on the sidelines of the summit and instead spoke on the move, citing a statement by their country's foreign ministry.
Mention of the pair's discussion was absent from lavrov's news conference following the G20 meeting.
