Russian Foreign Minister And US Climate Envoy Meet In New Delhi Amid Rising Tensions Between The Two Countries 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US President’s Climate Envoy John Kerry met in Delhi on Tuesday (6 April), reports say.

Lavrov and Kerry are currently in New Delhi for separate meetings with Indian officials and leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While the Russian Foreign Minister is meeting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate is in New Delhi to hold talks with Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar.

The US Embassy in India has said that the two, who are staying at the same hotel in New Delhi, chatted for a “few minutes about climate”.

Kerry served as the Secretary of State during former US President Barak Obama’s second term in office between 2013 and 2017.

However, experts have pointed out that the two leaders, who dealt with each other on many critical issues between 2013 and 2017, may also have exchanged views on issues other than climate change.

Tensions have been rising between the US and Russia over the last few months. The ties between the two countries reached a new low last month when President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a killer.

Russia’s actions in Ukraine over the past week, including the massing of thousands of military personnel on its northern and eastern borders of the country, have also railed tensions between NATO and Moscow.

In March, Russia's Ambassador to the US was recalled to Moscow after Biden said Putin would ‘pay a price’ for alleged meddling in US elections.

These issues may have come up for discussion, experts said, adding that the meeting may open new channels of communication to ease tensions.

On Monday (5 April), Russia said it was in high-level contact with the US about the rising tensions in Europe over Ukraine.

President Biden had called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday (2 April) and offered “unwavering” support amid tensions with Russia.