American-Russian Foreign Ministers meeting, Blinken said – America will not back down from supporting Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a brief meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New Delhi on Thursday. During this first meeting between the foreign ministers of these two countries after the Russia-Ukraine war, Blinken made it clear that America would not hold back from helping Ukraine.

Blinken met Lavrov

US officials reported that Blinken met with Lavrov for less than 10 minutes during the Group of 20 talks. However, earlier the US had said that the US Secretary of State would not meet the Russian or Chinese foreign ministers.

Urges for talks with Ukraine on the basis of Zelensky's demands

U.S. government officials say they met with the Russian foreign minister to make it clear to Russia that there will be no reduction in U.S. support for Ukraine, despite announcing plans not to meet with the Russian or Chinese foreign ministers . He also urged Russia to hold talks with Ukraine based on the demands put forward by Ukrainian President Zelensky.

Advised Russia to negotiate with Ukraine

The US also expressed hope that Russia would desist from the act of aggression and would resort to the diplomatic process for a just and lasting peace in the region. However, America feels that all these things will take a long time and this work is not going to happen soon.

Request to keep New Start

Blinken urged Russia to free former US soldier Paul Whelan, who has been detained since 2018. He also called for Russia to withdraw its recent decision to suspend the New START nuclear treaty, a nuclear arms control agreement between the two countries.

According to Blinken, the treaty is in the interest of both countries as well as international security, as the world expects us to behave responsibly when it comes to nuclear security.

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