Blinken does not plan to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov at G20 summit

US State Department spokesman Ned Price reports at briefing.

“It’s our belief that it can’t be business as usual with the Russian Federation. It’s not only our belief; I think we all saw in Bali during the G20 ministerial in July that Russia was isolated. We heard that from statements from a number of ministers representing the majority of the G20. We heard that. Clearly, Foreign Minister Lavrov heard that as well. The fact that he couldn’t deign to return in the afternoon after hearing condemnation from a number of his peers and counterparts around the table I think speaks to the scorn and to the criticism that he very clearly heard and internalized," Price said.

The representative emphasized that this time Lavrov will publicly hear something very similar.

"Countries around the world have continued to condemn Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. This goes well beyond the G7 countries. We’ve heard a number of countries in the region, including countries that have at least initially sought to hedge, countries that have more recently been much more direct and pointed in their remarks, calling for an end to this aggression, making clear that this is not an era of war, that borders cannot and must not be redrawn by force” Price added.

In addition, speaker of US State Department believes that G20 summit will provide number of opportunities to speak about the effects of inflation on food, energy and undermining of rules-based international order.

Reminder: G20 summit is to be held on November 15-16 in Indonesia.