US, Russia hold highest-level talks since Ukraine invasion
Last edited Thu Mar 2, 2023, 02:44 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
NEW DELHI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked briefly Thursday in the highest-level in-person talks between the two countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But there was no indication of any movement toward easing the intense tensions between their two nations.
The short encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted over Russia’s war with Ukraine and tensions have soared amid a myriad of disagreements, complaints and recriminations on other matters ranging from arms control to embassy staffing and prisoners.
U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference of foreign ministers in New Delhi. But there was no sign of any progress and the conference itself ended with the grouping unable to reach consensus on the Ukraine war.
Still, with relations at perhaps their lowest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War, the mere fact that the two men met showed that, at least for the moment, lines of high-level communication between Washington and Moscow remains open. At a news conference, Blinken said he told Lavrov that the U.S. would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and would push for the war to end through diplomatic terms that Kyiv agrees to.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/us-russia-ukraine-g20-blinken-lavrov-1af60a2c2918e9c0777b33b3e71bd54b
Short article at post time. Article updated.
Previous articles/headlines -
NEW DELHI (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked briefly Thursday at a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations in the highest-level in-person talks between the two countries since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The short encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted over Russia's war with Ukraine and tensions have soared amid a myriad of disagreements, complaints and recriminations on other matters ranging from arms control to embassy staffing and prisoners.
U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference of foreign ministers in New Delhi. But there was no sign of any progress and the conference itself ended with the grouping unable to reach consensus on the Ukraine war.
A senior U.S. official said Blinken used the discussion to make three points to Lavrov: that the U.S. would support Ukraine in the conflict for "as long as it takes" to bring the war to an end, that Russia should reverse its decision to suspend its participation in the New START nuclear treaty and that Moscow should release detained American Paul Whelan. The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation, said Blinken had "disabused" Lavrov of any idea Russia might have that U.S. support for Ukraine is wavering.
NEW DELHI (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met briefly Thursday at a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations in the first high-level meeting in months between the two countries.
U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference in New Delhi. The short encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted while tensions over Russia's war with Ukraine have soared.
A senior U.S. official said Blinken used the discussion to make three points to Lavrov: that the U.S. would support Ukraine in the conflict for as long as it takes to bring the war to an end, that Russia should reverse its decision to suspend participation in the New START nuclear treaty and that Moscow should release detained American Paul Whelan.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation, said Blinken had "disabused" Lavrov of any idea they might have that U.S. support for Ukraine is wavering. The official declined to characterize Lavrov's response but said Blinken did not get the impression that there would be any change in Russia's behavior in the near term.
Original article -
U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference in New Delhi. The short encounter comes as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted while tensions over Russia's war with Ukraine have soared.
A senior U.S. official said Blinken used the discussion to make three points to Lavrov: that the U.S. would support Ukraine in the conflict for as long as it takes to bring the war to an end, that Russia should reverse its decision to suspend participation in the New START nuclear treaty and that Moscow should release detained American Paul Whelan.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation, declined to characterize Lavrov's response but said Blinken did not get the impression that there would be any change in Russia's behavior in the near term.
= new reply since forum marked as read
(although it was a relatively "new" entity that came about after the fall of the USSR in the late '90s) and you just had the G7. 
but THAT was "in the past" when there was no "G7". 
My reply was about the G7 vs the G8.
In the PRESENT you still have a handful who are members of the G7 who are colonial powers.
The EU has 27 countries but they are not "enumerated" in terms of being considered an active part of the G7 - either as a single entity or as the individual countries although they have some sway. We know that a bunch of EU countries like the Netherlands (e.g., Antilles), Portugal (e.g., Azores), Spain (e.g., Canary Islands), etc., still have close-by or far flung territories.
But INDIVIDUALLY they are NOT part of the "G7".
Here is the GDP of those in the G7 alongside everyone else -
No one is arguing that colonization hasn't destroyed much of this world's societies - even going back before that so-called "colonial era" with the "empires". And the "partitioning" of the continent of Africa after WW1 made things worse.
But the entire point of this subthread was a result of a poster asking why Russia was still in the G20 and I mentioned why (and also included how the G8 eventually went away when Russia was booted from it) - Europe (through the EU) bet the farm for their energy needs with Russia and lost.
