'Nothing Has Changed' — State Department On Blinken's Brief Encounter With Lavrov At G-20

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday had a brief encounter with Russia's  Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Ministerial in India.

"This was an eight-minute, rather brief encounter. I don’t think anything was said or conveyed in eight minutes that could change the perception that has developed over the course of the past 16 months," the State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told a TURAN's Washington correspondent during his Thursday press briefing.

This was the first face to face conversation between the two diplomats since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The pair discussed three topics: New START treaty, wrongful detention of U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's peace proposal, according to Price.

The Secretary "talked about the proposal that President Zelenskyy himself has put forward, a 10-point proposal that calls for precisely what countries around the world have called for, what we have called for: a just and durable peace. It is, we think, incumbent on the United States, on us to do everything we can to help bring about the vision that President Zelenskyy himself has set out," Price said in response to TURAN's questions.

He went on to add, "[W]e’re under no illusions that a very brief encounter like the one Secretary Blinken had with Foreign Minister Lavrov will, in the near term or immediately, change Russia’s attitude and change its behavior.  But we think it’s important for the Russian Federation to hear from us at all levels that we believe in the vision that President Zelenskyy has set out, we believe in the principles of the UN Charter, and together with our partners around the world, including Ukraine, of course, we are going to do everything that we can to support that outcome."

Asked whether Blinken had a chance to reach out to his Ukrainian counterpart, either before or after this engagement, Price said in general, "we've consulted with partners and allies, as we always do ahead of conversations like this."

"I wouldn’t want to characterize those conversations, but we believe in diplomacy.  We believe in diplomacy with countries where we have a relationship that is quite strained, even adversarial with Russia, but we’re in constant dialogue with our allies and partners in Europe and around the world on these issues," he added.

According to Price, "nothing has changed" in the sense that the U.S. is going to "convey very clearly so there can be no misconception, no misperception, no confusion about our interests, about things that are of great importance to us, and things that are of great importance to the rest of the world."

"That’s what we’ve consistently done.  We’ve done that at lower levels, and we’ve done that at the level of Secretary Blinken when it’s been appropriate," he concluded.

Alex Raufoglu