The United States refused to apologize for the conversation between Blinken and Lavrov at the G20 summit

The US will not apologize for the conversation that took place between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State Etoni Blinkenov on the sidelines of the G20 summit in India. This was stated by the head of the press service of the State Department, Ned Price, during a briefing.

“I know that the Russians attach great importance to this. But it was a short meeting. We have nothing to apologize for,” he said (cit. according to TASS).

Price added that the conversation lasted only 8 minutes, it cannot be called a full-fledged bilateral meeting. As part of this communication, the United States touched upon the suspension of Russia’s participation in the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic and Offensive Arms, the need to end the conflict in Ukraine and the issue of the exchange of prisoners.

The day before, March 2, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova statedthat Blinken became the initiator of the conversation, the conversation took place “on the go.” According to her, any negotiations between Lavrov and Blinken on the sidelines of the G20 summit could not take place, since Washington pushed back diplomacy in the background.

Lavrov and Blinken both took part in the meeting of the foreign ministers of the G20 countries. India is chairing the G20 this year. Earlier, Reuters, citing sources in the Indian government, reported that New Delhi does not want sanctions against Russia to be discussed at meetings of the club of states.