Berlin said its first direct talks with Moscow since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine showed the two countries remain "deeply divided" positions and that Russia is unwilling to start serious negotiations to end the war, Reuters reported.
"Our positions, of course, remain strongly divided, a fact that is once again clearly evident", a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said, two days after a meeting between Federal Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The spokesman added that the talks had reinforced Berlin's view that Moscow was unwilling to negotiate either a ceasefire or an end to the war.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday in New York, DPA reported.
The two spoke on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, their first bilateral meeting. for years.
The German side requested the meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, quoted by TASS.
These are the first talks at such a level since the start of the war against Ukraine in 2022. Although representatives of the German and Russian governments have attended various international forums together since then, there have been no direct talks between the foreign ministers.