US Secretary of State Blinken invited Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to meet next week
Photo: Carlo Allegri / Reuters
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken invited his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to hold a new meeting in Europe next week. He believes that this will be the basis for a summit of leaders of key world powers to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine. The American representative stated this during a speech at the UN Security Council, TASS reports.
“Earlier today, I sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposing to meet in Europe next week, in continuation of our talks in recent weeks, to discuss steps we can take as part of resolving this crisis,” the diplomat said.
Blinken added that as part of the negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, Washington proposes to hold “meetings within the framework of the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE Permanent Council.”
Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the text of Moscow's written reaction to the US response on security guarantees. In the document, the Russian side once again denied numerous Western and Ukrainian media reports that Moscow was allegedly planning an invasion of Ukrainian territory, and also highlighted the negotiation process on key points of proposals for security guarantees in Europe.
