US Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken, who arrived in India today for the G20 foreign ministers’ summit, said he had no scheduled meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

The US expects G20 foreign ministers to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior official who accompanied Blinken on his trip said. “I think we will see wording that will reflect the majority, the vast majority of the G20 members who continue to oppose Russia’s war” with Ukraine, the official told reporters on board the plane carrying the US minister in India.

From Uzbekistan, where he had previously been, Blinken also said that he was not scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang.

Last Saturday at the meeting of G20 finance ministers, the deep disagreements of the countries were already visible, which did not allow issuing a joint communiqué. Russia and China refused to sign the clauses that talked about the war in Ukraine.

Blinken and Lavrov last met in January 2022, just weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

The Russian minister arrived on Tuesday evening in India, a country that has enjoyed friendly relations with Moscow for many years and does not condemn the invasion of Ukraine. Sergey Lavrov will use his participation in the G20 to launch an attack on the West, his ministry’s statement hinted. “The nasty policies of the United States and its allies have already brought the world to the brink of disaster, caused a setback in socio-economic development and significantly worsened the situation of the poorest countries,” the statement said.

US relations with China are also strained. Ten days ago, Blinken and senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi met in Munich, where America warned of “consequences” for China if it is found to be providing “material support” to Russia in the war in Ukraine or helping it circumvent sanctions imposed on it by the West. .

Today, Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed one of Moscow’s closest allies, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, in Beijing.

India, the host country of the G20 summit, has made reducing poverty and increasing funding to combat the effects of climate change a priority of its presidency. These goals, however, are being undermined by the effects of the war in Ukraine on the global economy. This issue is especially important for India, a major military client of Moscow, which has also increased its imports of Russian oil over the past year.

In September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “now is not the time for war,” a statement that was interpreted as a criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.