The Ukraine issue prevented the G20 foreign ministers' meeting from issuing a joint declaration, but US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov took advantage of the opportunity for a brief "contact," which was their first encounter since Russia began its alleged special military operation in Ukraine. Blinken used the opportunity to convey to Russia that US will continue to unwaveringly support Ukraine “for as long as it takes to end the war”.
Blinken also called for Moscow's decision to leave the New START nuclear arms deal, which sets verifiable caps on the nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia, to be reversed. There hasn't been a meeting since they were last spotted each other at the G20 foreign ministers' summit in Bali in July 2022. While the western nations were criticising the war, Lavrov rushed out of the G20 summit.
A Russian spokesperson said though there were no negotiations in the “contact”, which, according Russian authorities, took place at Blinken’s behest. “He (Lavrov) spoke to him, standing, as part of the second session of the G20. No talks or real meeting took place,” said the official. On the New START deal, Blinken claimed he assured Lavrov that mutual adherence is in both the US and Russia's best interests. The US will always be prepared to engage in and take action on strategic arms control, just as we did even at the height of the Cold War, I assured him, regardless of what is occurring in the world or in our relationship, Blinken stated while speaking to the media.