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Foreign Minister colleagues Antony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov (end of January in Geneva)
Photo:
Sergei Bobylev / imago images / ITAR-TASS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced that he will speak to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
In the coming days he would call Lavrov for the first time since the Russian attack and urge him to respond to a "substantial offer" that the US government had made to Moscow.
As Blinken said at a press conference in Washington, it is about the release of US basketball player Brittney Griner and US citizen Paul Whelan.
'You must be allowed to come home.
We put a substantial offer on the table weeks ago to facilitate the release,” Blinken continued.
He gave no details of the offer.
According to a CNN report, in June the Biden administration offered to trade jailed arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner and Whelan.
Bout is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
The Trevor Reed case has shown that the President is willing to make tough decisions, Blinken said.
In April, Russia handed over ex-soldier Trevor Reed to the United States in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
Basketball player Brittney Griner has been held since mid-February after her luggage was searched at a Moscow airport.
She is accused of bringing drugs to Russia.
Whelan was taken into custody at a hotel in December 2018, charged with espionage and later sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Blinken also said he would speak to Lavrov about the urgency of Russia complying with the UN-brokered grain export deal.
He also wants to warn Russian counterparts against attempts to annex parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
If the call goes ahead, it would be the first conversation Blinken and Lavrov have had since Feb. 15 — about a week before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Both avoided each other in Bali
Blinken and Lavrov avoided each other in early July when they were both in Bali for a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.
At that time Lavrov left immediately after his speech.
Next week, both are supposed to be in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where they have been invited to a meeting of the Southeast Asian international community Asean.
Sol/dpa/AP/Reuters