TASHKENT, Uzbekistan — Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, making ready for confrontations over the battle in Ukraine at a gathering of prime diplomats from the Group of 20 nations, stated Wednesday that the Biden administration noticed “zero proof” that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was ready to interact in critical peace talks.

“On the contrary, the proof is all within the different course,” Mr. Blinken stated at a information convention throughout a go to to the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan. He stated, “The true query is whether or not Russia will get to some extent the place it’s genuinely ready to finish its aggression.”

With Russia and China sending their overseas ministers to the Group of 20 convention in Delhi, India, Mr. Blinken was laying out the American place forward of an anticipated push by China, Russia’s strongest strategic accomplice, for the warring sides to interact in peace talks.

American officers say they view China’s transfer as a smoke display that enables Russia and its companions to solid themselves because the affordable events in Mr. Putin’s unprovoked battle. Mr. Blinken stated he had no plans to fulfill along with his Russian or Chinese language counterparts on the sidelines of the G20 gathering, whose major classes are going down Thursday.

Many countries are more and more anxious concerning the battle, particularly given its financial influence, with world surges in meals and power costs, however they’ve caught to a impartial stance. These embody the 5 Central Asian nations within the former Soviet-ruled area that Mr. Blinken has been visiting, in addition to some Group of 20 nations, together with India.

One huge query looming over the convention is how India will steer the discussions of the battle. Will it help a condemnation of it because it did final month at one other assembly in India of Group of 20 ministers? And to what diploma will it encourage the combatants to enter into negotiations? (Ukraine is not going to be represented in Delhi.)

India’s overseas secretary, Vinay Kwatra, stated at a information convention in Delhi on Wednesday that “this isn’t the period of battle,” making an announcement much like a line that Prime Minister Narendra Modi first used final September at a management summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Group, a regional safety group by which China and Russia are essentially the most highly effective nations.

In conversations during the last 12 months with leaders of many countries, Mr. Kwatra stated, Mr. Modi “has clearly said that dialogue and diplomacy is the best way ahead to resolve the battle.”

It was unclear whether or not India would explicitly endorse China’s name for peace talks, which Beijing formalized in a 12-point doc launched final Friday, on the primary anniversary of the battle. India and China have robust commerce ties however are strategic rivals, and India has grown more and more indignant over Chinese language army incursions alongside their shared border within the Himalayas. India can also be a member of the Quad partnership of countries, a bunch whose major goal now could be counterbalancing China; Mr. Blinken and different diplomats from these nations — the US, India, Japan and Australia — are scheduled to fulfill in Delhi on Friday.

Mr. Modi stated in an opening video deal with on Thursday morning to the Group of 20 diplomats gathered in New Delhi that whereas he understood that discussions ”are affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day” — a transparent reference to the Ukraine battle — he hoped they’d maintain their concentrate on world crises affecting the numerous growing nations of the world, citing financial misery, local weather change and the pandemic.

Some nations proclaiming neutrality have expressed help for China’s transfer, though the factors within the nation’s peace plan had been reiterations of bland statements of precept that Chinese language officers have made all through the battle. The primary was a repetition of China’s longstanding declaration that each one nations ought to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Kazakhstan, which Mr. Blinken visited on Tuesday, has stated that China’s initiative “deserves help as an finish to bloodshed.”

However on Wednesday, Mr. Blinken caught to his skepticism. Whereas there are “constructive parts” within the doc, he stated, China’s failure to sentence the Russian invasion demonstrates an absence of real dedication to sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Mr. Blinken stated China was nonetheless “blocking and tackling” for Russia, pointing to Russian disinformation on the battle that Beijing has formally supported, in addition to the Biden administration’s assertion that China is contemplating giving weapons to Russia for the battle.

America and its European allies insist that their major aim for now could be to extend army assist to Ukraine in order that it could possibly take again its territory and be in a greater place if substantial talks finally begin. Solely then would there be an opportunity for a “simply and sturdy” peace, Mr. Blinken stated.

A number of senior Pentagon officers, nonetheless, have stated lately that they consider the battle was settling right into a slog.

When the finance ministers from the member states of the Group of 20 met in Bengaluru, India, final month, most of them tried to push via a consensus assertion criticizing Russia’s invasion, however the representatives from Russia and China blocked that. The opposite nations ended up issuing a condemnation of the battle on their very own.

That assertion stated “most members strongly condemned the battle in Ukraine and burdened that it’s inflicting immense human struggling and exacerbating present fragilities within the world economic system.” India supported the assertion, which was primarily based on a declaration that a lot of the Group of 20 member states issued in Bali, Indonesia, final 12 months.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kwatra reiterated India’s backing of the Bali declaration, however he stated it was not but clear what the overseas ministers would say concerning the battle at this week’s gathering. Officers from the member states have already been in Delhi negotiating language for an announcement. The overseas ministers of Russia and China, Sergey V. Lavrov and Qin Gang, are anticipated to object.

Mr. Kwatra stated that for India and lots of different growing nations, the largest issues related to the battle are financial, “the questions regarding the meals, power and the fertilizer safety, the influence that the battle has on these financial challenges that we face.”

Mr. Blinken acknowledged at his information convention in Tashkent that there have been troublesome penalties of the battle for a lot of nations. “Few areas have been extra acutely affected than Central Asia, together with Uzbekistan,” he stated.

Mr. Blinken is the primary Biden administration cupboard official to go to Central Asia, a area of former Soviet republics that Moscow considers inside its sphere of affect.

The nations have sought to keep a impartial stance on the battle, they usually all have shut financial, safety and diplomatic ties with Moscow. However some leaders and senior officers in nations within the area have lately made skeptical remarks concerning the invasion.

Mr. Blinken’s journey in Central Asia was a direct diplomatic strike at Moscow. Mr. Blinken met with overseas ministers from all 5 former Soviet nations in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, and went to the presidential palace to see the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who thanked the US for supporting Kazakhstan’s independence.

Some analysts say the US is engaged right here in a brand new model of the Nice Sport, the geopolitical battle between the British and Russian empires within the nineteenth century by which the allegiances of rulers within the area and management of territory had been main prizes. Now, that sport is being performed among the many United States, Russia and China, as every vies for affect.

Russia’s battle in Ukraine has despatched shock waves via the area. Some nations are cautious of potential grabs for former Soviet territory by Mr. Putin, and their leaders concern he may incite separatist actions by ethnic Russian nationalists inside their borders.

Mr. Blinken stated that a part of his mission had been to supply financial incentives to the nations to broaden their overseas relations.

“Central Asia is in a sophisticated a part of the world with longstanding relationships with completely different nations primarily based on historical past, primarily based on geography, and that’s one thing that we properly perceive,” he stated.

Earlier than his afternoon information convention, Mr. Blinken had separate conferences with Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of Uzbekistan, and Bakhtiyor Saidov, the appearing overseas minister.

Mr. Mirziyoyev’s workplace issued a obscure assertion afterward that averted mentioning any bigger factors about superpowers within the area, however stated that he and Mr. Blinken mentioned a variety of points, together with “within the political, commerce, financial, funding, instructional, cultural and humanitarian spheres, in addition to key features of regional cooperation.”

Mujib Mashal contributed reporting from Delhi.