Germany’s Wadephul meets Russia’s Lavrov amid tensions over ‘escalation’ – POLITICO

NEW YORK — German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul held a surprise meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at the U.N. on Saturday, just one day after he welcomed the U.S. invite for Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit.

"It was an intense conversation", Wadephul told German public television ZDF after the meeting, which lasted about 30 minutes. "Of course, we did not reach agreement on key points. It was important to me to make it clear that Germany does not accept incidents such as the drone attack in Leipzig, and that this is an escalation that is unacceptable. And I clearly warned Russia not to continue down this path. We can defend ourselves, we can fight back. And that's exactly what we'll do."

“Wadephul called on the Russian Federation to abandon its dangerous path of escalation toward Germany, Europe, and NATO,” a German official said after the meeting. The official was granted anonymity to discuss the meeting.