JAKARTA - Russia cannot be left to fight with impunity, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday after meeting with his colleagues from India, Japan, and Australia in New Delhi.
In a joint statement, the Quad group emphasized that the use, or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine is unacceptable.
Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended an important New Start nuclear weapons control agreement, threatening to resume nuclear tests.
"If we let Russia do what it does in Ukraine without punishment, then it is a message to aggressor candidates everywhere that they may just qualify," Blinken said in a forum in India which was also attended by ministers from quad member states.
The day before in New Delhi, Blinken met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time since the conflict in Ukraine began more than a year ago. During the brief meeting, Blinken urged Moscow to end the war and cancel the suspension of the New START nuclear agreement, a senior US official said.
Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Lavrov and Foreign Minister Blinken spoke less than 10 minutes and were not involved in any negotiations, Russian news agencies reported.
At the G20, the United States and its allies called on its member states to continue to pressure Russia to end the conflict, but the G20 was unable to approve a joint statement about the war because of opposition from Russia, which calls its actions a "special military operation" and China.
On Friday, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell urged the global community to work together.
"Everyone who abstains in several different areas, they have to understand that we are facing something that breaks the possibility of a world consensus," Borrell said.
In a statement, Quad ministers also insinuated China in disguise by condemning actions that raised tensions in the South China Sea, and militarizing disputed areas in the area.
It is known, China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construction and a group that "carrys for other countries". The group's name is the Quadrlateral Security Dialogue, which focuses on strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region.
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