G20 Foreign Ministers Meet: US, allies spar with Russia over Ukraine

GBNEWS24DESK//

The United States and its European allies sparred with Russia over the war in Ukraine at a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in New Delhi yesterday, with the rival sides each accusing the other of destabilising the world.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a brief encounter on the sidelines of the meeting during which Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision on the New START nuclear treaty, a senior US official said.

Blinken also told Lavrov that Washington was prepared to support Ukraine to defend itself for as long as it takes, the official said. The two spoke for less than 10 minutes.

The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke “on the move” but did not hold negotiations or a meeting, Russian news agencies reported.

News of the exchange came at the end of the day-long G20 meeting which, as expected, was overshadowed by the Ukraine war. The participants failed to reach a joint final declaration after objections from Moscow and Beijing.

Discussions over the joint statement faltered on several issues including Russia’s insistence on an investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline last year, Lavrov told reporters after the meeting through an interpreter.

Russia and Western countries have traded accusations of responsibility for the September explosions.

The differences frustrated India, which said it wanted to use its year as host to focus on issues such as alleviating poverty and climate finance.

“On the issue, which very frankly concerned the Ukraine conflict, there were divergences, there were differences, which we couldn’t reconcile,” Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told reporters as the meeting concluded.

The United States and its European allies urged the Group of 20 (G20) nations to keep up pressure on Moscow to end the conflict, now in its second year.

Russia hit back, accusing the West of turning work on the G20 agenda into a “farce” and said Western delegations wanted to shift responsibility for their economic failures onto Moscow.

“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 said in remarks released after his address at the closed-door meeting.

“Unfortunately, this meeting has again been marred by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine,” Blinken said.

He was backed by his counterparts from Germany, France and the Netherlands.

“Unfortunately, one G20 member prevents all the other 19 from focusing all their efforts on these issues the G20 was created for,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the meeting, according to the German delegation.