The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the phone about the war in Ukraine this Friday.
Antony Blinken, the head of US diplomacy, spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on the phone this Friday. This first exchange between the two men since the beginning of the war in Ukraine was an opportunity to send several messages.
“Open and direct” discussion
Specifically, Antony Blinken says he warned Sergei Lavrov that the world would “never” recognize the annexation of Ukrainian lands.
During this discussion, described as “frank and direct,” he also urged Moscow to accept Washington’s offer to release Americans imprisoned in Russia.
“We had an open and direct discussion,” said the US Secretary of State during a press conference. “I asked the Kremlin to accept the extensive offer we made them.”
“It was very important for the Russians to hear directly from us that this is not accepted and not only is not accepted, but it imposes significant additional costs on Russia,” he said.
The US official also said Russia is preparing “rigged referendums” to try to “falsely demonstrate” that the people living in those Ukrainian territories are “trying to be part of Russia”.
The head of American diplomacy responded to the United States’ offer to release basketball player Brittney Griner and ex-US soldier Paul Whelan. It would be a swap for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the US.
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 “will be normalized”
For its part, Russian diplomacy said that the two ministers “exchanged their views on the issue of bilateral relations, which urgently need to be normalized.”
“In view of a possible exchange of Russian and American prisoners, the Russian side has insisted on returning to the regime of professional dialogue, free from media speculation, within the framework of ‘discreet diplomacy,'” she said in a statement.
Antony Blinken also called on his Russian counterpart to ensure that Moscow honors its commitment under the deal negotiated with Turkey’s help on Ukrainian grain blocked in Ukrainian ports.
For his part, Sergey Lavrov condemned the continued supply of “American and NATO weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces and nationalist battalions, which are widely used against the civilian population, prolonging the agony of the Kiev regime, prolonging the conflict and multiplying casualties”, according to Russian diplomacy.