US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, the first high-level encounter between the US and Russia since President Joe Biden took office, which comes amid heightened tensions between the former Cold War foes — friction Blinken acknowledged right away.
“It’s also no secret that we have our differences,” Blinken said at the top of the meeting, after he and Lavrov had greeted each other warmly.
“When it comes to those differences, as President Biden has also shared with President Putin, if Russia acts aggressively against us, our partners, our allies, we’ll respond,” Blinken said as he and Lavrov sat facing each other at a long rectangular table flanked by their delegations. “And President Biden has demonstrated that in both word and deed, not for purposes of escalation, not to seek conflict, but to defend our interests.”
But the top US diplomat added a caveat. “Having said that, there are many areas where our interests intersect and overlap,” he said, and urged cooperation on a range of “intersecting interests” including the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, dealing with the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, and Afghanistan.
“We seek a predictable, stable relationship with Russia,” Blinken said. “We think that’s good for our people, good for the Russian people and indeed good for the world.”
Lavrov responded by saying that Russia’s “position is clear. We are prepared to discuss all issues on the table, with the understanding that our discussions will be honest, factual and with mutual respect.” But he, too, added a caveat, telling Blinken that “we greatly diverge when it comes to our assessment of international situation and our approaches towards how we should resolve it.”
And Lavrov appeared to signal that whatever steps the Biden administration might take against Russia, Moscow stands ready to respond. “Laws of diplomacy recommend mutuality, especially when it comes to response to any kind of hostile actions,” the Russian foreign minister said. “You can always rely on us to respond mutually to such intentions.”
Blinken and Lavrov met on the sidelines of an Arctic Council meeting in Iceland and were expected to chat without a stringent time limit or any topics off-limits, sources familiar with the plans for the meeting explained. The discussion was expected to cover a wide range of substantive issues between the two nations ahead of a possible summit between Biden and President Vladimir Putin early this summer — but many of them are fraught.
Blinken ultimately raised “deep concerns” about malign Russian behavior during Wednesday’s meeting, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout.
Blinken ultimately raised “deep concerns” about malign Russian behavior during Wednesday’s meeting, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout.
The two diplomats also discussed areas in which both countries could benefit from cooperation, “including Afghanistan, strategic stability, and curbing Iran and the DPRK’s nuclear programs,” he added.
Lavrov called the meeting “constructive,” Russian state news agency TASS reported.
“The conversation seemed to me constructive. There is an understanding of the need to overcome the unhealthy situation that developed between Moscow and Washington in previous years,” Lavrov said following the talks, according to TASS.
“Today we confirmed our proposal to start a dialogue, considering all aspects, all factors affecting strategic stability: nuclear, non-nuclear, offensive, defensive. I have not seen a rejection of such a concept, but experts still have to work on it,” the foreign minister was quoted as saying.
The two men met a day after news broke that the US will not sanction the company in charge of building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, despite strongly opposing the project with a State Department spokesperson calling it a “Russian malign influence project” that “threatens European energy security and that of Ukraine and eastern flank NATO Allies and partners.”
As Blinken met with Lavrov, the State Department released a statement about Nord Stream 2 from the top diplomat. “I have determined that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, its CEO Matthias Warnig, and Nord Stream 2 AG’s corporate officers.
“Today’s actions demonstrate the Administration’s commitment to energy security in Europe, consistent with the President’s pledge to rebuild relationships with our allies and partners in Europe,” Blinken said in the statement. “We will continue to oppose the completion of this project, which would weaken European energy security and that of Ukraine and Eastern flank NATO and EU countries. Our opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is unwavering.”
The top US diplomat was expected to directly raise a range of aggressive Russian activities, including the Solar Winds hack that targeted private businesses and government, Moscow’s election interference, the wrongful detention of US citizens in Russia, its human rights abuses and detention of opposition activist Alexey Navalny, and the expulsion of each other’s diplomats, three sources said.
Source : CNN
