The head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, spoke on the telephone this Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, about the war in Ukraine.
Antony Blinken, the head of American diplomacy, spoke on the phone this Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. This first exchange between the two men since the start of the war in Ukraine was an opportunity to send several messages.
“Frank and direct” discussion
Antony Blinken says in particular that he warned Sergei Lavrov that the world would “never” recognize the annexation of Ukrainian territories.
During this discussion described as “frank and direct”, he also urged Moscow to accept Washington’s offer for the release of Americans detained in Russia.
“We had a frank and direct discussion”, declared the American secretary of State during a press conference. “I called on the Kremlin to accept the substantial offer we made to them.”
“It was very important for the Russians to hear directly from us that this will not be accepted and not only will it not be accepted, but it will result in significant additional costs being imposed on Russia,” he said.
The US official also said that Russia was preparing “rigged referendums” to try to “falsely demonstrate” that people living in these Ukrainian territories “are seeking to be part of Russia”.
During this exchange, the head of American diplomacy discussed the United States’ offer to release basketball player Brittney Griner and ex-US soldier Paul Whelan. It would be an exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States.
Antony Blinken declined to describe Sergei Lavrov’s reaction. “I can’t tell you if I think things are more or less likely,” he said. “But it was important that he hear it directly.”
Bilateral relations “to be normalized”
For its part, Russian diplomacy indicated that the two ministers had “exchanged their opinions on the problem of bilateral relations which strongly need to be normalized”.
“With regard to a possible exchange of Russian and American prisoners, the Russian side insisted on returning to the regime of professional dialogue, free from media speculation, within the framework of ‘discreet diplomacy'”, he said. she said in a statement.
Antony Blinken also urged his Russian counterpart to ensure that Moscow honors its commitment under the agreement, negotiated with the help of Turkey, on Ukrainian cereals blocked in Ukrainian ports.
Sergei Lavrov, for his part, denounced the continuation of deliveries of “American and NATO arms to the Ukrainian armed forces and nationalist battalions, which are widely used against the civilian population, by prolonging the agony of the kyiv regime, by prolonging the conflict and multiplying the victims”, according to Russian diplomacy.
