Russian minister laughed at, ridiculed over false war claims

“The war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us,” Lavrov said, before crowds of laughter by audience members cut him off.

“Using Ukrainian people,” he went on, before laughter again erupted him mid-speech.

A voice is then heard again interrupting the minister saying: “Come on”.

He then continues to speak on how the war “influenced Russia’s energy policy” before changing topics.

It comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Lavrov on Thursday for the first time since the war in Ukraine began more than a year ago.

The brief contact on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi marked a significant moment, as high-level engagements between the US and Russia became exceedingly rare since the start of the war last February.

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Their conversation took place not only against the backdrop of the ongoing war – and stern warnings to the Chinese about materially supporting Russia’s conflict – but also amid deteriorating bilateral relations.

Blinken raised those three key issues – the war, New START, and Whelan – in his roughly 10-minute-long engagement with Lavrov, according to a State Department official travelling with the top US diplomat. Blinken was the one to initiate the conversation, the official and Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova both said.

However, the official noted that there aren’t high expectations the meeting will lead to a breakthrough on key issues of tension between the countries.

“I wouldn’t say that coming out of this encounter there was any expectation that things will change in the near term,” the State Department official told the travelling press.

– With reporting from CNN