US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has accepted an invitation to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov next week “if there is no further Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the US State Department said on Thursday.
This meeting was originally initiated by the United States.
It will be organized “because we believe that the only responsible way to resolve this crisis is through diplomacy and dialogue,” said Ned Prais, a spokesman for the State Department.
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said earlier that the US hoped that Russia would respond positively to Blinken’s proposal to meet with Lavrov in Geneva next week. These meetings would take place within the framework of the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE Permanent Council.
Blinken and Lavrov have had two recent phone calls on February 12 and 15.
–
