The last time Blinken and Lavrov were in the same room—at a G20 meeting in Bali last July—the latter stormed out, according to Western officials.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke briefly at the meeting of the world's top diplomats in New Delhi, which failed to reach a joint final declaration after objections from Moscow and Beijing.
Russian diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sought to downplay the significance of the encounter, telling state news agency RIA Novosti that Blinken had initiated it and that it had been fleeting. "I want to apologize to the Indian presidency and to our colleagues from countries of the global South for the obscene behavior of some Western delegations, which have turned the G20's agenda into a farce," Lavrov said, according to Russian news agency TASS.
A meeting of G20 finance ministers in Indian city Bengaluru last week had also failed to agree on a common statement after Russia and China sought to water down language on the war. Beijing has reacted furiously to the claims it may be contemplating arms transfers, and in February it issued a position paper calling for dialogue to resolve the conflict.Russia's war in Ukraine crowded out other agenda items at the meeting of the Group of Twenty, which comprises the world's 19 largest economies and the European Union.
Earlier in the day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said global governance had "failed" and urged attendees to come together for the sake of developing countries not represented there.
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