Blinken, Lavrov spoke briefly on margins of G20 meeting - U.S. official

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting with Netherlands Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra (not pictured) on the sideline of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi, India March 2, 2023. Olivier Douliery/Pool via REUTERS

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke for less than 10 minutes on the margins of the G20 meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, a senior U.S. State Department official said.

In what is believed to be the two top diplomats' first one-on-one conversation in person since before Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Blinken reiterated that Washington is prepared to support Ukraine's defense as long as it takes, the official said.