The foreign ministers of the Group of Twenty ended their meeting in India without consensus on the war in Ukraine, and no joint statement was issued by the group, as Russia and China opposed the issuance of statements condemning the war.
India - which currently chairs the Group of Twenty - said today, Thursday, that most of the member states strongly condemned the Ukraine war, except for China and Russia, after the meeting of the foreign ministers of the G20 countries.
The meeting's "summary and outcome document" issued by India after the meeting largely adhered to the language used in a similar statement it issued after a meeting of the group's finance ministers and central bank governors over the weekend.
Also during that meeting, Russia and China opposed statements denouncing the war.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanam Jaishankar (right) speaks at a press conference on the G20 summit (Reuters)
Blinken and Lavrov meeting
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the G20 will not issue a joint statement at the end of its ministerial meeting, and host India will instead issue a summary, blaming the West.
Lavrov told reporters after the talks in New Delhi, "The issuance of the declaration has been stalled, and the outcome of the discussions will be described in the summary that will be followed by the Indian presidency."
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held a brief 10-minute meeting with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the meetings, the first such meeting since the start of the war in Ukraine a year ago.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that Blinken told Lavrov of the US's commitment to support Ukraine, pressured Russia to reverse its decision to suspend the New START nuclear treaty, and urged the release of US prisoner Paul Whelan.
For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed - to CNN - that the meeting took place between Lavrov and Blinken.
She added, "Blinken asked to meet Lavrov on the sidelines of the second session of the summit," noting that "there were no negotiations or meetings between the two ministers."
On the other hand, Reuters quoted Russia's deputy foreign minister as saying that Washington and Kiev are able to stop the conflict tomorrow if they take the right decisions, as he described it.
At the summit, the foreign ministers of the G20 countries will discuss prominent global issues, including humanitarian aid and disaster relief, food security, energy security, combating terrorism, promoting multilateralism, and development cooperation.