Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will consider a request to contact his American counterpart, Anthony Blinken, when his schedule allows.”

This came after the US State Department indicated that “we continue to work on a contact agreement between Blinken and Lavrov, and we hope that it will take place in the coming days.” She reported that “the American proposal for an exchange of prisoners with Russia has not received such progress as we had hoped.”

And yesterday, Blinken said: “In the coming days, for the first time since the beginning of the war, I will talk with Lavrov, and we will discuss several files, the most important of which is the recently completed grain agreement.” And he added: “I will also talk with Lavrov about the Americans detained by Russia,” given that “Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to occupy Ukraine, and the latter will remain independent and sovereign.”