US Secretary of State Blinken had earlier asserted that he wouldn’t meet the Russian minister. (File)
New Delhi:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met briefly in New Delhi on Thursday with Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov, urgent him on Ukraine within the two international locations’ highest-level one-on-one contact because the battle.
Blinken met for lower than 10 minutes with Lavrov on the sidelines of the Group of 20 talks, a day after saying that he had no plans to satisfy his Russian or Chinese language counterparts, a senior US official mentioned.
Blinken needed to “disabuse the Russians of any notion that our assist may be wavering” on Ukraine, the official mentioned, after rising assist from European allies for peace initiatives.
Blinken needed to “ship that message instantly” and likewise urged Russia to interact with Ukraine on the idea of calls for put ahead by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We all the time stay hopeful that the Russians will reverse their resolution and be ready to interact in a diplomatic course of that may result in a simply and sturdy peace,” the official mentioned.
“However I would not say that popping out of this encounter there was any expectation that issues would change within the close to time period.”
Blinken additionally urged Russia to free Paul Whelan, a former US Marine detained since late 2018, and to reverse President Vladimir Putin’s latest resolution to droop the New START nuclear treaty, the final arms management settlement between the Chilly Warfare-era foes.
Blinken informed Lavrov that “the treaty is within the curiosity of each our international locations in addition to worldwide safety, because the world expects us to behave responsibly in the case of nuclear safety,” the official mentioned.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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