Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated he demanded on Thursday that Russia finish its struggle on Ukraine when he and his Russian counterpart held the primary personal, face-to-face trade between a U.S. cupboard member and a high Kremlin official for the reason that invasion.

The unscheduled encounter with Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s overseas minister, at a world convention in New Delhi confirmed that the Biden administration noticed a must reestablish in-person diplomatic contacts with Moscow so the 2 governments can focus on the year-old struggle in addition to points past it.

Mr. Blinken stated at a information convention on Thursday evening that along with calling for Russia to halt its “struggle of aggression” in Ukraine, he instructed Mr. Lavrov that Russia ought to return to the New START nuclear arms management treaty it withdrew from final month and adjust to its phrases. And he as soon as once more urged Moscow to free Paul Whelan, an American citizen who the State Division says is wrongfully imprisoned on espionage expenses.

The assembly with Mr. Lavrov, which lasted lower than 10 minutes, occurred on the sidelines of a gathering right here of high diplomats from the Group of 20 nations representing the world’s largest economies. Within the morning, Mr. Blinken stated in a bunch session that was additionally attended by Mr. Lavrov and Qin Gang, the overseas minister of China, that the international locations needed to proceed to name on Russia to “withdraw from Ukraine for the sake of worldwide peace and financial stability.”

The encounter got here at a important second within the largest and most harmful battle in Europe since World Warfare II. Either side are marshaling extra troops and weapons for deliberate spring offensives, hoping to attain decisive breakthroughs. Russian troops are closing in on the besieged metropolis of Bakhmut, Ukraine, amid heavy casualties, however there was little latest motion on the battlefield.

On the Group of 20 assembly, Russia and China, its strongest companion, blocked the overseas ministers from issuing a consensus communiqué on the finish of the convention, arguing towards strains that criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

As a substitute, the group launched a considerably lower-level assertion that mirrored the truth that 18 of the 20 nations condemned the invasion, exhibiting that even some international locations with an formally impartial stance — India, Indonesia, South Africa and Saudi Arabia amongst them — have been prepared to tilt towards Russia in some settings. At a gathering in Bali in November, President Biden and different Group of 20 leaders agreed to a doc with the identical important language.

Russian officers stated Mr. Blinken had sought out the assembly with Mr. Lavrov, though Mr. Blinken instructed reporters a day earlier, earlier than he flew from Uzbekistan to India, that he had no plans to satisfy on the convention with Mr. Lavrov or Mr. Qin. Mr. Blinken didn’t meet along with his Chinese language counterpart on Thursday.

The assembly between Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Blinken doesn’t sign any motion towards beginning talks on ending the struggle in Ukraine. Maria Zakharova, a Russian Overseas Ministry spokeswoman, stated that “there have been no negotiations” between the 2 males, in response to Interfax, a Russian state information company.

On Wednesday, Mr. Blinken stated at a information convention in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, that the Biden administration noticed “zero proof” that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was critical about starting substantial negotiations.

In actuality, he stated on Thursday, Mr. Putin is “doubling down on his brutalization of Ukraine.” Mr. Blinken reiterated that Mr. Putin was the one one that may meet the circumstances for peace — by totally withdrawing from Ukraine.

President Biden and his aides say their aim for now’s to maintain giving Ukraine navy support to repel Russia and take again Ukrainian territory, and that any peace talks, an concept that China and some different nations are pushing, are a distraction to assist Mr. Putin attempt to solidify his positive factors and proceed his assaults in Ukraine. Mr. Blinken instructed Mr. Lavrov that the USA was dedicated to defending Ukraine “for so long as it takes,” a senior State Division official stated.

There was no indication that Mr. Lavrov addressed Mr. Blinken’s calls for. However at a United Nations Convention on Disarmament in Geneva, a Russian official repeated Moscow’s causes for suspending participation within the New START treaty. The Russian envoy, Sergey Ryabkov, accused the USA and its European allies of making an attempt to “strategically defeat” Russia and of aiding Ukraine so as to assault Russian strategic websites recognized below the treaty.

Mr. Blinken introduced up the struggle in different personal conferences through the convention. When he spoke with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Indian overseas minister, the 2 “mentioned easy methods to mitigate the worldwide impacts of Russia’s unlawful struggle in Ukraine” and “the USA and India’s cooperation within the Indo-Pacific,” the State Division stated in an announcement. The second phrase is a reference to strategic efforts in Asia, together with navy coordination, to counter China.

However Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, who has been happy with his potential to convey the sequence of Group of 20 conferences to his nation this 12 months, expressed some disappointment that the struggle was dominating the conversations. His remark was an indication of weariness with the struggle and its impression throughout the globe.

In an opening video tackle to the diplomats, Mr. Modi stated that whereas he understood that discussions “are affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day” — a transparent reference to the struggle — he hoped the members would maintain the give attention to world crises affecting the numerous growing nations of the world. He cited financial downturns, local weather change and the pandemic.

Mr. Modi and different leaders in Asia and Africa have expressed rising frustration over the financial results of the struggle, together with surging meals and power costs. Mr. Blinken heard about a few of these considerations throughout his visits this week to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan — the primary by any Biden cupboard official to the previous Soviet republics of Central Asia, which Moscow sees as inside its sphere of affect.

The Group of 20 officers, together with Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Qin, did all comply with language within the closing declaration saying the international locations would attempt to enhance and proceed the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which permits cargo ships carrying Ukrainian grain to move via a Russian naval blockade. The blockade had contributed to meals shortages and rising costs all over the world, which eased after the deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, took impact in July.

That settlement expires in March, however Mr. Lavrov’s consent to the assertion about it within the declaration hinted that Moscow may comply with renew it. Nevertheless, U.S. officers say Russia continues to be slowing the shipments by hobbling inspections that happen when the ships attain Istanbul.

For the reason that struggle started, the U.S. protection secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, has spoken by cellphone a number of instances with Russia’s protection minister, Sergei Ok. Shoigu. However Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lavrov have had only one such name, final summer season, a few U.S. authorities supply to Russia to free Mr. Whelan and Brittney Griner, Individuals who the Biden administration says have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned in Russia.

In December, the USA launched Viktor Bout, an imprisoned Russian weapons supplier, in trade for Ms. Griner, a basketball star sentenced to 9 years in a labor camp for hashish possession. The Biden administration has continued to press Russia to free Mr. Whelan.

Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lavrov have been in different worldwide conferences collectively and sat in the identical room over the previous 12 months. However they’ve normally averted one another, as they did at a Group of 20 assembly final summer season in Bali, Indonesia, and at a gathering of overseas ministers of Southeast Asian nations and companions in Cambodia.

Final month, at a gathering in India of Group of 20 finance ministers, the U.S. Treasury secretary, Janet L. Yellen, confronted Russian officers in a bunch assembly and stated that they had a “ethical crucial” to finish the struggle. She additionally instructed them they have been “complicit in Putin’s atrocities.”

On the Thursday information convention, Mr. Blinken repeated his warning that China was contemplating supplying weapons to Russia to be used in Ukraine. He stated officers from U.S. allies and companion nations had confronted Chinese language counterparts over this, together with right here on the New Delhi convention. And he stated the USA and people international locations may impose financial sanctions “of varied varieties” if China have been to ship weapons.

The highest diplomats from a partnership of Asia-Pacific nations known as the Quad — the USA, India, Japan and Australia — are scheduled to satisfy on Friday. One nation is anticipated to dominate that dialog: China.

Mujib Mashal contributed reporting from New Delhi, and Nick Cumming-Bruce from Geneva.