Blinken, Lavrov spar politely in their first face-to-face meeting
Print Edition
Top diplomats from the United States and Russia sparred politely in Iceland during their first face-to-face encounter, which came as ties between the two countries have deteriorated sharply in recent months.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke frankly but calmly of their differences as they held talks on the sidelines of an Arctic Council meeting on Wednesday in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, a city with deep history in US-Russian relations.
鈥淲e seek a predictable, stable relationship with Russia,鈥 Blinken told Lavrov, echoing comments made by US President Joe Biden.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also no secret that we have our differences and when it comes to those differences,鈥 he added.
A senior US official called the meeting 鈥渁 good start鈥 with 鈥渘o polemics鈥 that had allowed both sides to 鈥渢ee-up a lot of the issues that the two presidents may have the opportunity to discuss.鈥
After the meeting, which ran for a longer-than-expected hour and 45 minutes, Lavrov told Russian reporters the talks had been 鈥渃onstructive鈥 and that Russia has proposed starting a new and broad strategic bilateral talk.
鈥淭here is a lot of rubble, it鈥檚 not easy to rake it up, but I felt that Antony Blinken and his team were determined to do this. It will not be a matter for us,鈥 the Russian FM said.
Biden and Putin have agreed in principle to hold their first summit, possibly in June in Europe following a G7 summit and a NATO leaders鈥 meeting. On Monday, Blinken said he expected the summit to happen in the next few weeks. But asked after the meeting if Russia had formally agreed to the summit, Lavrov did not reply.
Nord Stream 2
There were some signs of thawing relations just before the meeting.
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden鈥檚 administration waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2, a Russia-Germany gas pipeline, which Washington has called a geopolitical security risk.
In a letter to Congress, Bliken said that waiving the original sanctions mandated by Congress for Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 AG, and its chief executive Matthias Warnig, 鈥渋s in the national interests of the United States.鈥
The ruling was a significant reversal of Washington鈥檚 earlier stance on the project. Former US President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration had long promoted US gas and openly criticized European countries for buying energy from Russia.
The 1,200-kilometer pipeline, which is more than 95 percent complete, will run beneath the Baltic Sea and double Russian natural gas shipments to Germany, Europe鈥檚 largest economy.
Russian giant Gazprom has a majority stake in the project, working alongside an international consortium that includes Germany鈥檚 Wintershall and Uniper groups, Dutch-British giant Shell, France鈥檚 Engie and Austria鈥檚 OMV.
The new pipeline follows the route of the original Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which began operations in 2011.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
