--- title: "Lavrov Meets Wadephul in New York and Reports Nothing New" description: "First talks between the two countries’ top diplomats since 2022 ended in dispute over whether they counted as dialogue" author: "Inez Holloway" published: 2026-09-27T06:22:22Z modified: 2026-09-27T13:14:13Z url: https://rews.cc/a/lavrov-meets-wadephul-in-new-york-and-reports-nothing-new-fca0f2 language: en tags: ["russia", "ukraine", "germany", "politics", "diplomacy", "europe", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Lavrov Meets Wadephul in New York and Reports Nothing New *First talks between the two countries’ top diplomats since 2022 ended in dispute over whether they counted as dialogue* By Inez Holloway · September 27, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/lavrov-meets-wadephul-in-new-york-and-reports-nothing-new-fca0f2 ## In brief - Lavrov and Wadephul held the first Russian-German foreign-minister talks since the 2022 invasion, at Germany’s request, on the UNGA sidelines - Wadephul urged Moscow to abandon its “dangerous path of escalation” and to agree a Black Sea grain-export deal - Lavrov said “nothing new” came of the meeting and accused Berlin of being Ukraine’s “main sponsor” - Berlin blames Russia for a drone attack at Leipzig/Halle airport and is closing the Bonn consulate and Berlin cultural centre - Zelenskyy said Putin “is looking for excuses to keep waging the war” They met on Saturday, in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, before Sergey Lavrov walked to the podium to address the world. It was the first time the foreign ministers of Russia and Germany had sat down together since before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the German side that asked. What Johann Wadephul carried into the room, according to a German delegation source, was a phrase: he called on Moscow to abandon its “dangerous path of escalation” toward Germany, Europe and NATO. He also held out, the Associated Press reported through a German delegation official, the prospect of an improved relationship — provided the Kremlin showed it was genuinely willing to end the war. He pressed Lavrov to do “everything possible to reach an agreement on grain exports via the Black Sea.” “Time is of the essence: given the food shortages in many countries — particularly in the Global South — all parties must be willing to engage constructively,” the German minister said, the delegation source reported. A pragmatic solution, he suggested, “could pave the way for further concrete steps.” The urgency is not rhetorical. Russian and Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea have been sharply curtailed in recent months as each side struck the other’s port infrastructure and vessels. Kyiv and its allies are pushing for a limited ceasefire — on the sea, and on strikes against energy infrastructure. Moscow has given no public indication that it supports either. At a press conference after his speech, Lavrov was asked about the meeting and about Russian-German relations. “Nothing new came from that initiative of the foreign minister,” he told reporters. Wadephul, in his telling, had “simply reiterated his official public position condemning Russia.” From the General Assembly podium he had gone further, accusing Berlin of being Ukraine’s “main sponsor” and reaching for a heavier history. “Chancellor Merz is stating that Germany must once again be a leading military power in Europe,” he said. “Does Berlin understand what this could lead to? Did they not learn the lessons of World War II?” The United States, he said, had “destroyed the European security system and created a Russophobic regime in Kyiv”; the West aspired “to inflict strategic defeat on Russia.” “These aspirations,” he said, “will result in the war mongers being led into a strategic dead end.” The escalation Wadephul had in mind has a specific address: Leipzig/Halle Airport, in eastern Germany. A drone incident there — an attempted attack in August, in CNN’s account — led the German government to conclude this month that Russia was responsible; euronews dates the open rupture to early September, when Berlin made the accusation. Wadephul announced measures against Russia “as the perpetrator of the hybrid attack in Leipzig”: the Russian consulate in Bonn and Russia’s cultural centre in Berlin are to close, border controls on Russian nationals will tighten, and pressure on Russia’s shadow fleet will increase. The Russian embassy in Berlin answered in the vocabulary of injury. The allegations were a “fabricated provocation,” part of “a new wave of anti-Russian hysteria in Germany.” Ambassador Sergey Nechayev “categorically rejected the accusations made by Berlin as unsubstantiated, absurd, and contrary to common sense,” an embassy statement said; the German measures “represent an unprecedented escalation in Russian-German relations and will not remain without consequences, for which the German government will bear full responsibility.” Lavrov on Saturday reduced the incident to an “unclaimed drone” — one Germany had “immediately” decided was Russian. The accusation sits inside a wider catalogue of [Russian drones reaching toward Europe](https://rews.cc/a/the-drones-russia-could-loosen-on-europe-from-a-ghost-fleet--692858). Wadephul, according to the delegation sources, told Lavrov that neither Leipzig nor any further hybrid attack would shake Germany’s resolve to support Ukraine. In Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched the week and said it was clear the Kremlin was preparing for no end to the war. “Putin always finds some lame excuse – not to meet, not to hold a trilateral, not to talk, not to end it, not to stop the killing,” he said in a video address. “He is looking for excuses to keep waging the war.” Dialogue, then: two ministers in one room for the first time in four years, each leaving with the account he arrived with. The German side called it a request. The Russian side called it an initiative. What it counted as, Lavrov left for others to decide. > You can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not? ## Sources - [Lavrov rejects Berlin's call to abandon 'dangerous' escalation](https://euronews.com/2026/09/27/russian-foreign-minister-rejects-berlins-call-to-abandon-dangerous-escalation) — euronews.com - [German and Russian foreign ministers hold rare talks as tensions rise](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/27/german-russian-foreign-ministers-hold-rare-talks-amid-rising-tensions) — aljazeera.com - [Russia and Germany's top diplomats hold first talks since Ukraine invasion](https://cnn.com/2026/09/26/europe/russia-germany-meeting-ukraine-latam-intl) — cnn.com