Although it only took ten minutes, the meeting that brought together US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, today, Tuesday, attracted the attention of international news agencies and sought to reveal what happened during this brief meeting that took place on the sidelines of a meeting of the Group of Twenty in New Delhi. in India.

In the first direct meeting between Washington and Moscow at this high level since Russia began its war on its neighbor Ukraine a year ago, Blinken called before Lavrov to stop what he described as Russia's "war of aggression" against Ukraine, and to pursue diplomacy as a way to reach a "just and lasting peace."

"I said to the (Russian) foreign minister what I, like many others, said last week at the United Nations and what many of the G20 foreign ministers said today: End this war of aggression and engage in meaningful diplomacy that can bear fruit," the US secretary told reporters. A just and lasting peace."

As Blinken said, "I told Lavrov that we are ready, whatever happens in the world, to engage in strategic arms reduction."

However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was keen to downplay the meeting, after she indicated that "Blinken asked to communicate with Lavrov," according to the Russian news agency "Tass".

The official RIA Novosti news agency also quoted Zakharova as saying that it was Blinken who initiated this meeting, which was fleeting.

She added that Lavrov "spoke to him, standing, within the framework of the second session of the Group of Twenty," adding, "there were no real talks or meeting."


The importance of the meeting

The last time Blinken and Lavrov were in the same room, during a G20 meeting in Bali in July last year, Lavrov stormed out, according to Western officials.

And there has been no high-level contact between the US and Russian governments since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Despite the obvious importance of Lavrov and Blinken's meeting on Thursday, analysts said they saw no sign of an imminent end to the war.

Harsh V said.

Pant, a professor at King's College London, said the two ministers "didn't say anything that would convince anyone that this crisis is heading towards a meaningful or serious settlement. It looks like we're in it for a long time."

The foreign ministers of the G20 countries failed in their meeting to reach a final joint declaration, after Moscow and Beijing objected to the proposed text.

The US Secretary of State said that Russia and China are the only two countries that did not agree to the statement of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting that concluded in New Delhi.

Blinken also renewed the declaration that his country stood with Ukraine in defending itself, and said that the war could end tomorrow if Russian President Vladimir Putin so wanted.