brief and unexpected. The head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinkenand that of Russia, Sergei Lavrovthe faces were seen on Thursday for the first time since the Russian invasion of the Ukraine in a meeting of just ten minutes that it was not programmed and that it took place outside of the top of foreign ministers of the G20, held in New Delhi, India.
This bizarre meeting, which Blinken assured two days earlier would not take place, suggests that the Biden Administration is willing to keep open -o to reopen- communication channels with the Kremlin, despite the constant increase in tensions between the two countries that has marked the last few months. And not only for their totally antagonistic positions about the war – Moscow continues to insist that it is a justified “special military operation” and Washington continues to arm the Ukrainian army and demand an end to the aggression – but because bilateral relations in other spheres are also they are at their worst.
Recently, for example, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, unilaterally froze New START, the only treaty on the control and reduction of atomic weapons existing between the two largest nuclear powers. A decision that fears a new arms race similar to that of the Cold War. Moscow’s return to the agreement was precisely one of the points discussed by both ministers in the short conversation that, according to the Russian news agency interfacewas requested by the US.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reacts during a news conference in New Delhi.
“I told him that no matter what else happens in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always you will be ready to commit and act in strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did even at the beginning of the height of the Cold War,” Blinken explained in a subsequent press conference. However, it appears that “There was no negotiation” between Blinken and Lavrov neither on the end of the war nor on the nuclear treaty, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
[Rusia y EEUU: ¿regreso a la Guerra Fría o estrategia?]
Support in the US falls
The face-to-face between Lavrov and Blinken comes at a time when the West has increased the pressure on russia to end the war. But also, just as US investment in Ukraine begins to take its toll. While Joe Biden promised to continue supporting the Ukrainian people “as long as it takes” and made a surprise trip to kyiv last week to show solidarity on the first anniversary of the war, Americans are beginning to show signs of exhaustion.
According to two polls by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, public support for aid to Ukraine has fallen from 60% last May to 48% now. Likewise, the number of citizens who believe that the US has given too much to Zelensky’s army increased up 26% in February from 7% registered last year, according to the Pew Research Center.
[Putin escenifica su soledad con un discurso vacío, paranoico y sin capacidad alguna de reacción]
Skepticism about aid to Ukraine has not only grown on the streets: It has also been installed in the United States Congress. Earlier this week, two Republican House committees questioned top Pentagon officials about the billions of dollars in military aid given to kyiv, according to the report. New York Times.
These hearings, far from being a display of muscle from the conservative formation What is now controlled by the legislature?Doubts have grown as to whether the Biden Administration could get the go-ahead from Congress for more aid packages or approve funds to replenish their own arms reserves.
