Russia’s foreign minister says THIS is why ‘US was arming Ukrainian regime’

Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday said, “This invasion (of Ukraine as per the West) reflects the reaction to the war the West was preparing for many years and that is why it was arming the Ukrainian regime”, hinting at the supply of weapons by the West to the East European country. 

Lavrov on Thursday said that Group of 20 talks would not issue a joint declaration with host India instead releasing a summary, as he blamed the West.

"The declaration was blocked and the outcome of the discussion will be described in the summary that the Indian presidency would speak about," Lavrov told reporters after the talks in New Delhi.

Discussions over the joint statement faltered on several issues including Russia's insistence on an investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline last year, Lavrov said.

Russia and Western countries have traded accusations of responsibility for the September explosions.

But so far investigations by Swedish, Danish and German authorities have not pinned the blame on any one country or actor.

"We speak about manners. Well, our Western counterparts have gotten really bad with these," Lavrov said after Thursday's talks.

"They are not thinking of diplomacy anymore; they now only deal in blackmail and threatening everyone else."

Lavrov who arrived at Delhi on Tuesday to attend the Group of 20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (G20FMM), also met India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday and held wide-ranging talks. 

After the meeting the external affairs minister Jaishankar tweeted that they "exchanged views on our bilateral cooperation and G20 issues."

Lavrov also met Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang met on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (G20FMM) in New Delhi on Thursday.

This is the first personal contact between the two ministers since Qin assumed office.

During the meeting, the Chinese Foreign Minister told his Russian counterpart that during a visit to Moscow in late February by Wang Yi, the Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a member of the CCP Politburo both Russia and China reached broad agreements.

The meeting between the foreign ministers of both countries at the G20 ministerial comes amidst the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the rift between the US-led West and Russia-China over the conflict.