Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met at UN headquarters in New York on Saturday 26 September, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. It was the first such meeting between the two countries' top diplomats since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Wadephul said he had told Lavrov that Russia was on a "dangerous path of escalation" with Germany, Europe and NATO. "I used this opportunity to reiterate our position on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and to call for an immediate and complete ceasefire," he said.

Lavrov played the meeting down, saying he had learned nothing new and that Wadephul "could just have called me and said: 'Read my statement'." On grain exports through the Black Sea, he said separate discussions with Ukraine were needed, "not in the language of requests, but rather demands". Russian officials said Germany had requested the meeting.

Lavrov addressed the General Assembly's general debate the same day, saying the objectives of Russia's military operation in Ukraine would be achieved, and proposing a "Eurasian Charter on Diversity and Multipolarity".