Ukraine War26 September, 20262 min read
Johann Wadephul Meets Sergei Lavrov in New York for UN Talks
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
German Foreign Minister Wadephul met Sergey Lavrov in New York on UN General Assembly sidelines. First meeting since Ukraine war began; no agreement reached.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Wadephul Meets Lavrov
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war, with the meeting taking place on the margins of the UN General Assembly in a meeting room on the Russian side of the UN building. The German side requested the meeting, Tass quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying, and the two ministers held their first bilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries in years. Wadephul and Lavrov met against the backdrop of ongoing efforts to end the Ukraine war, and Wadephul and Lavrov were in the US metropolis for the UN General Debate.
“Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York.”
Wadephul emphasized that the two sides did not reach an agreement, and he called on Russia to “leave the dangerous path of escalation against Germany, Europe and NATO.” Lavrov told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur in New York that he saw no progress from the talks with Wadephul, saying, “If you look at Berlin’s daily public statements, I heard nothing else.”
No Agreement, Sharp Words
Wadephul said the meeting lasted a little over 20 minutes and ended with a handshake between the ministers, while he told ZDF that “It was an intensive conversation. Of course we did not agree on essential points.”
Wadephul told ZDF that he had offered Lavrov to de-escalate, in particular with regard to the situation in Ukraine, but that it had not found any listening ears.
Lavrov criticized the German approach in New York, telling the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that “You could simply have called me and told me ‘Read my statement.’”
Wadephul also warned Russia to continue in the direction he described, saying, “We can defend ourselves, we can resist, and we will do so as well.”
G20 and War Talks
Wadephul said Germany explains how Vladimir Putin at G20 could open a path to ending the war, and he argued that Putin’s participation could mark the start of serious peace talks on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Wadephul said, “Repeatedly we have asked the Russian government and Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiation table. And if it is a possibility, then perhaps it would be at least a start to serious negotiations,” and he stressed that a ceasefire is an important condition for holding negotiations.
The RBC-Ukraine account said Wadephul’s comments about Putin’s potential participation in the G20 summit clash with the position of other German officials, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson Stefan Kornelius, who said that “the German government does not view relations with Russia as business as usual.”
The same account said US senators had called on Trump to cancel Putin’s invitation to the G20 summit, and it added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would consider a trilateral meeting with Trump and Putin at the G20 summit.