Russia receives US request, considers date for Lavrov-Blinken talks
Russia has received a request from the US to arrange a telephone call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, according to the head of Russian diplomacy.
"We learned about it (Blinken's desire for a phone call) when we were (on tour) in Africa. He was on television, saying he wants to talk to me. A day or so later the official request came," Lavrov said on Friday during a visit to Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan.
The Russian foreign minister said Moscow would "soon" propose to Washington a date for arranging the call with Blinken.
"Today it will hardly be possible, but in the next few days we will propose a convenient date to our American colleagues," he said.
Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington had offered Russia a "substantial proposal" for an exchange of two Americans detained on Russian territory, Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, for Russian Viktor But, known as "the merchant of death".
Blinken also said he plans to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the coming days in what will be the first conversation between the two men since the conflict with Ukraine broke out on 24 February.
Moscow later specified that it had not yet received a formal request from the US side to organise the talks.
The Kremlin, in turn, expressed surprise at Blinken's announcement to discuss the issue with Lavrov, as it is a matter that does not allow for "leaks to the press".
"The Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: "Usually, agreements that have already been reached are made public".
Griner is a basketball player who is accused of drug possession and smuggling. The two-time world and Olympic champion was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in February after customs officials found cannabis oil, a substance banned in Russia, in her belongings.
Whelan is a former Marine arrested by Federal Security Service (FSB, formerly KGB) agents in a Moscow hotel in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of "espionage activities" on behalf of the United States.
But is serving 25 years in prison in the US for, among other things, conspiring to kill US citizens and selling weapons to Colombia's former FARC guerrilla organisation.
