Blinken to speak to Lavrov for first time since Russia invaded Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he will speak with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call in the coming days for the first time since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Photo: EPA/RUSSIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY HANDOUT

At a news conference at the US State Department on Wednesday, Blinken said the call "will not be a negotiation about Ukraine," but focus on a “substantial offer” that the United States had conveyed to the Kremlin to exchange prisoners and bring home two American citizens detained by Moscow, former US Marine Paul Whelan and basketball star Brittney Griner.

My call with Foreign Minister Lavrov will not be a negotiation about Ukraine. Any negotiation regarding Ukraine is for its government and people to determine. As we’ve said from the beginning, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 28, 2022

Blinken declined to provide details of the deal, the Reuters news agency reported.

He told reporters that the planned talk would also cover an agreement reached last week to unblock Ukraine's grain exports across the Black Sea.

In my remarks, I shared that I expect to speak with Foreign Minister Lavrov for the first time since the war began. I will raise the wrongful detention of Americans and the need to implement the tentative deal on grain exports Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and @UN reached last week.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 28, 2022

Russia on Thursday said there was no deal yet with Washington on swapping the two detained US citizens, according to Reuters.

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Source: IAR, Reuters, news.yahoo.com