Top diplomats of the United States and Russia encountered and talked briefly on Thursday for the primary time since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with out indicating any motion towards easing the extraordinary tensions between the 2 nations.
The highest-level in-person talks between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov got here as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted over Russia’s struggle with Ukraine, and tensions have soared amid a myriad of disagreements, complaints, and recriminations on different issues starting from arms management to embassy staffing and prisoners.
U.S. officers mentioned Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 convention of overseas ministers in New Delhi. But there was no signal of any progress, and the assembly ended with the grouping unable to succeed in a consensus on the Ukraine struggle.
Still, with relations at their lowest level because the Cuban Missile Crisis in the course of the Cold War, the mere incontrovertible fact that the 2 males met confirmed that, no less than for the second, traces of high-level communication between Washington and Moscow remained open.
At a news convention, Blinken instructed Lavrov that the U.S. would proceed to assist Ukraine for so long as it takes and would push for the struggle to finish by means of diplomatic phrases that Kyiv agreed to.
“End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace,” Blinken instructed Lavrov. But, he famous that “President Putin has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying there’s nothing to even talk about unless and until Ukraine accepts, and I quote, ‘the new territorial reality.’”
Blinken additionally urged Russia to reverse “its irresponsible decision and return to” participation within the New START nuclear treaty.
“Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries,” Blinken instructed Lavrov. He added that “no matter what else is happening in the world, in our relationship, the U.S. is always ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the U.S. and the Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War.”
Blinken additionally urged Moscow to launch detained American Paul Whelan and mentioned, “the U.S. has put forward a serious proposal. Russia should take it.”
Blinken had instructed the G-20 assembly earlier that Russia’s struggle with Ukraine couldn’t go unchallenged.
“We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine for the sake of international peace and economic stability,” Blinken mentioned. He famous that 141 nations had voted to sentence Russia on the United Nations on the primary anniversary of the invasion.
Yet, a number of members of the G-20, together with host India, China, and South Africa, selected to abstain in that vote. As a consequence, regardless of appeals from prime Indian officers to look past their variations over Ukraine and forge consensus on different points, the overseas ministers couldn’t achieve this or agree on a last communique.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar mentioned there have been “divergences” on the difficulty of the struggle in Ukraine, “which we could not reconcile as various parties held differing views.” “If we had a perfect meeting of minds on all issues, it would have been a collective statement,” Jaishankar mentioned.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier appealed for all members of the fractured G-20 to succeed in a consensus on problems with specific concern to poorer nations even when the broader East-West cut up over Ukraine couldn’t be overcome.
“We all have our positions and perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved,” Modi mentioned. “We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can.”
According to a abstract of Thursday’s assembly launched by India, China and Russia objected to 2 paragraphs taken from the earlier G-20 declaration in Bali final 12 months. And Blinken lamented that “Russia and China were the only two countries that made clear that they would not sign off on the text.”
The paragraphs said that the struggle in Ukraine was inflicting immense human struggling whereas exacerbating fragilities within the world economic system, the necessity to uphold worldwide regulation, and that “the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
Despite the failure to realize full consensus, Blinken mentioned it was optimistic that 18 of the 20 nations had agreed on an announcement calling for an finish to the struggle and quick steps to enhance power and meals safety which were badly affected by the battle.
Lavrov, who didn’t point out talking with Blinken when he held a news convention after the G-20 session, instructed reporters that Moscow would proceed to press its motion in Ukraine. However, he shrugged off Western claims of Russia’s isolation, saying, “we aren’t feeling isolated. It’s the West that has isolated itself, and it will eventually come to realize it.”
He mentioned Russia stays open to talks on ending the battle in Ukraine, however he accused the West of successfully blocking such discussions.
“They are calling on us to have talks, but I don’t remember any Western colleagues calling on Ukraine to have talks,” he mentioned. “They are encouraging Ukraine to continue the war.”
Lavrov additionally mocked U.S. threats in opposition to China, which has introduced a peace plan for Ukraine that has been applauded by Moscow however dismissed by Washington and its Western allies.
“Our Western colleagues have lost self-control, forgotten their manners, and put diplomacy aside, switching exclusively to blackmail and threats,” he mentioned.
Russia had no quick touch upon the substance of the dialog, however Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned Blinken had requested to talk to Lavrov.
It was their first contact since final summer time when Blinken talked to Lavrov by cellphone a few U.S. proposal for Russia to launch Whelan and previously detained WNBA star, Brittney Griner. Griner was later launched in a swap for imprisoned Russian arms supplier Viktor Bout, however Whelan stays detained in Russia.
Whelan, a Michigan company safety govt, has been held for 4 years on espionage fees that his household and the U.S. authorities have mentioned are baseless.
His brother David mentioned the household is grateful that Blinken “took this high profile, a rare opportunity to include Paul’s freedom in his discussions with Kremlin representatives.” But he famous that Paul Whelan turns 53 on Sunday, his fifth birthday in custody. He’s held in jail within the Mordovia area in “sub-zero Celsius temperatures” with the warmth turned off, David Whelan mentioned in an e mail.
“Paul continues to suffer … So for all the statecraft and stonewalling, our brother languishes for another birthday and however many more milestones as a Russian hostage,” he mentioned.
The final time Blinken and Lavrov met in individual was in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2022, on the eve of Russia’s invasion. At that assembly, Blinken warned Lavrov in regards to the penalties if Russia went forward with its deliberate army operation but in addition sought to deal with some complaints that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made in regards to the U.S. and NATO.
Those talks proved inconclusive – Russia moved forward with its plans to invade, and Blinken then canceled a scheduled follow-up assembly with Lavrov that was set for simply two days earlier than Moscow finally invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
