Dialogue of the deaf at the first meeting between Blinken and Lavrov after the invasion

The heads of Russian and American diplomacy met face to face for less than ten minutes g20 summit in India. Conversation between Sergey Lavrov and Antony Blinken This ended the almost one-year absence of contacts between the two caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States, asked the interlocutor to review Russia’s involvement in the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Weapons (STAR-3). The petition comes just two days after Vladimir Putin signed a law suspending his country’s participation in the deal. In addition, Blinken used the opportunity to reiterate US support for Ukraine in relation to its Russian counterpart, and to emphasize that said support will be expanded “whatever is necessary”, in line with Washington’s statements in recent weeks. Blinken is also in the process of talking called on Moscow to release Paul WhelanAmerican imprisoned in Russia on charges of espionage.

Despite the fact that just a few days ago, the American diplomat said that he did not plan to speak with Lavrov in New Delhi, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, it was Blinken who requested the meeting.

The meeting attended by the foreign ministers of the G20 countries ended without an agreement. According to India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar: “There is almost 95% in terms of agreement on the clauses, and in only two we could not get everyone on the same page.” The two disputed points related to the condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine, but also to the power to apply “international law and the multilateral system that preserves peace and stability.” Both clauses were rejected by representatives of Russia and China.

Criticism of international law and multilateralism is part of Russia’s usual strategy in approaching international organizations. In the same vein, last week, the Russian ambassador to the UN told the Security Council that the current international order is nothing more than a tool for the US to maintain its global hegemony.

India, which chairs the G20, failed in an attempt to divert attention from the New Delhi summit on the war in Ukraine. The Indian President himself Narendra Modiwho intervened electronically, specifically asked those present: “Don’t let the problems we can’t solve together get in the way of the ones we can.”

The Indian government has an ambivalent attitude towards the conflict in Ukraine. Since the start of the war, the Modi administration has refused to consider the Russian invasion of its neighbor as its concern and has repeatedly opposed Russia’s condemnation at the UN. With the introduction of Western sanctions on Russian energy producers, India became the main importer of crude oil from that country, thus deepening bilateral relations between the two countries.