America: We have announced the request of Blinken and Lavrov to talk to Russia
Ned Price, the spokesman of the US State Department, said on Thursday evening local time: “We have expressed our interest and have clearly announced to Russia that we are looking for a dialogue between Blinken and Lavrov.”
The American official added: “Before the speech of the US Secretary of State yesterday, we contacted our Russian counterparts to submit the contact request.”
“We have continued to communicate,” Ned Price said, adding that the Russian government had acknowledged the request for a telephone conversation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Washington has not officially contacted Moscow about the phone call between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
According to IRNA’s TASS news agency, a spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry said: “No request has been received from the United States in this regard, and only media reports have been published.” We rely on formal diplomatic methods rather than media diplomacy.
Blinken announced on Wednesday local time that he will hold talks with Lavrov in the next few days for the first time since the war in Ukraine.
He added that he will raise the issue of the detained Americans and the grain agreement with the Russian Foreign Minister.
He stated that in this conversation he will raise the issue of the arrest of American citizens, including Brittany Grinder and Paul Whelan, and said that he has made a significant and fundamental proposal to Russia regarding these people, and he will discuss this proposal with Lavrov. .
On February 21, 2022 (March 2, 1400), Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the Donbas region, criticizing the West’s indifference to Moscow’s security concerns. On February 23 (March 4) and just one day before the start of the war in Ukraine, the Council of the European Union approved the first package of sanctions against Russia in response to this action.
On Thursday, February 24 (March 5, 1400), Putin also launched military operations against Ukraine, which he called “special operations”, thus turning the tense Moscow-Kiev relationship into a military confrontation.