G20 meeting closed without consensus on a joint statement
A final statement following the G20 foreign ministers' meeting also failed because of the Russian Federation's insistence on including in the text the need for an impartial investigation into the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September in the Baltic Sea. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a brief discussion with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Indian capital New Delhi, reports The Washington Post. The unscheduled meeting came amid accusations by the Russian government of blackmail and threats against Western nations.
Speaking briefly at a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in the Indian capital New Delhi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ended without a joint communique because of differences over the Ukraine conflict.
Antony Blinken told Sergei Lavrov that the United States would continue to support Ukraine in its defence against Russia for as long as necessary. Similarly, according to the US Secretary of State, Russia should return to the New START nuclear arms control treaty from which it recently withdrew and release an imprisoned US citizen.
Speaking to the press after the G20 meeting ended, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the final declaration had been blocked and the Indian presidency would present a summary of the meeting.
Holding the G20 presidency, India said the group's foreign ministers had reached consensus on a large number of issues after the Delhi meeting and focused on what "unites" them after the talks were dominated by the war in Ukraine.
