The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, revealed on Wednesday that he will hold “in the coming days” the first conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The first conversation in more than five months between the heads of US and Russian diplomacy, will take place over the phone and will focus on the situation of Americans detained in Russia and the resumption of cereal exports from Ukraine, the subject of an agreement last week, mediated by the United Nations and Turkey.
The US Secretary of State specified during a press conference that “It will not be a negotiation on Ukraine”but it should be devoted primarily to the Americans held in Russia and the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine.
The last dialogue between Blinken and Lavrov was on February 15, when the American diplomat urged Russia not to go ahead with the invasion of Ukrainewhich was confirmed nine days later.
On the “table” of the two foreign ministers will now be the agreement between kyiv and Moscow, signed last week in Istanbul to allow the disposal of around 25 million tons of grain trapped in Ukrainian ports.
We hope that this agreement will allow Ukrainian grain to be quickly shipped back through the Black Sea and that Russia will fulfill its promise to allow these ships to pass through,” Antony Blinken stressed.
Since the agreement was signed, the Ukrainian authorities have warned that don’t trust moscow and reported Russian attacks in the Odessa region.
The Kremlin, for its part, has maintained that it sees no obstacles to the resumption of exports, which also depend on the removal of sea mines placed by Ukrainian forces to protect themselves from a Russian attack in this way.
Another priority issue for the White House is the release of Paul Whelan and basketball player Brittney Griner, who Blinken says are “wrongfully” detained and should be allowed to return home.
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CNN also reported that the Joe Biden administration is willing to trade a convicted Russian arms dealer for the two citizens. In the potential deal, Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison, would be traded for Griner and Whelan.
Source: Observadora
