On arrival in New Delhi, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, hoped that India would take a firmer stand against Moscow at the G20 meeting of foreign ministers. For his part, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was confident in the adoption of a joint statement that would mention the war in Ukraine, and said he would not meet his counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Hours later, the facts unfolded in the opposite direction: there is no news that Indian minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has pressured Lavrov; the representatives of the 19 countries and the European Union have not agreed on a final text. And the American finally met the Russian.
On the sidelines of the meeting of the G20 chiefs of diplomacy in New Delhi, and in what the Russian MFA spokeswoman said was a moving meeting, Blinken and Lavrov spoke for about 10 minutes at the request of the American.
Blinken reaffirmed that the United States will continue to support Ukraine and, according to a source on the secretary’s team, emphasized Washington’s support for a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine that preserves the country’s territorial integrity. “He emphasized that Ukraine and the United States want this war to end on that basis, but what is missing is the same determination on the part of Moscow,” the senior official said, explaining that Blinken “wanted to send the message directly.”
Blinken himself later told journalists that he repeated what he said at the UN last week and what “so many ministers” said at the G20: “End this war of aggression, commit yourself to a diplomacy that can bring about a just and lasting peace.” .”
It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two since Moscow invaded Ukraine, although they were in the same conference room at an earlier meeting of the world’s major economies, which took place in Bali last July. The secretary of state also pressured Moscow to reverse its decision to suspend New START, the last nuclear arms control agreement between the two countries, and pushed for the release of US prisoner Paul Whelan, sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage.
Despite the near unanimity alluded to by German Annalena Baerbock – “19 countries have made it clear that this war must end. the bombing and withdraw your troops” – in the end they couldn’t reach a joint agreement to make a statement. “There were issues and, frankly, concerns about the conflict in Ukraine,” host Jaishankar acknowledged.
While Baerbock went straight to Lavrov for Russia to end the invasion, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a speech in parliament, called on China not to send weapons to Moscow, adding his voice to that of US leaders, who in recent days increased pressure on Beijing. .
The speech was delivered a year after he announced funding of €100 billion for the re-equipment of the armed forces at the same location. About a third of that amount is for orders for US fighter jets and helicopters and for the digitization of services, and critics say the situation has only gotten worse a year later. The new minister in charge of the portfolio, Boris Pistorius, asked for an increase of ten billion, and in the Bundestag, Scholz again pledged that the country would spend the equivalent of 2% of GDP on defence.
The problem is also spreading to other European countries and next week defense ministers will meet in Stockholm to discuss in detail a proposal to invest a billion euros in the manufacture of munitions, especially those of 155 mm, when supplies are starting to run dry both under the 27 and the Ukrainian armed forces.
It is in this context that Scholz will meet the US President this Friday in Washington. A week later it is the turn of another leader of German nationality, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is received by Joe Biden.
“Terrorists” in Russia
The day was still marked by unclear news – the average Russians published different versions of the events – about an action by the Russian Volunteer Corps group. The group released a video of two men with guns in the village of Lyubichane, in the Russian region of Bryansk, close to the Ukrainian border, in which one of them says they did it “to show compatriots that there is hope that the Russian people can fight the regime freely with arms in his hands”.
The region’s governor claimed the group fired at a car, killing the driver and wounding a 10-year-old child, and another person had died. Vladimir Putin denounced the “terrorist attack”, while the FSB said it was the work of “Ukrainian saboteurs”, who were expelled. Kiev has denied any involvement.
Source: DN
