{"id":1579663,"date":"2022-07-29T17:54:51","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T21:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1579663"},"modified":"2022-07-29T17:55:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T21:55:09","slug":"blinken-and-russias-lavrov-have-frank-discussion-about-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-and-russias-lavrov-have-frank-discussion-about-prisoners\/","title":{"rendered":"Blinken and Russia\u2019s Lavrov have \u2018frank\u2019 discussion about prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblinken-and-russias-lavrov-have-frank-discussion-about-prisoners%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1579663&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>By Humeyra Pamuk<\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday held a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and pressed the Kremlin to accept the \u2018substantial proposal\u2019 that Washington has put forward to secure the release of two Americans detained in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>In their first such conversation since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the two top diplomats looked to stick to their existing positions, according to the readout of the call from Blinken and the Russian foreign ministry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a frank and direct conversation,\u201d Blinken told a news conference at the State Department. \u201cI pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Their discussion came as a source familiar with the proceedings said Russia tried to add convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov to the proposed swap. U.S. officials did not view the idea seriously since Krasikov is in German custody, among other reasons, said the source, confirming a CNN report.<\/p>\n<p>While not getting into the details, the White House National Security Council dismissed the offer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHolding two wrongfully detained Americans hostage for the release of a Russian assassin in a third country\u2019s custody is not a serious counter-offer. It is a bad faith attempt to avoid the deal on the table that Russia should take,\u201d said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.<\/p>\n<p>A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the call lasted about 25 minutes and it was \u201cwithout polemics and was businesslike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lavrov suggested to Blinken that the two sides return to quiet diplomacy on the issue of prisoner swaps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegarding the possible exchange of imprisoned Russian and U.S. citizens, the Russian side strongly suggested a return to the practice of handling this in a professional way and using \u2018quiet diplomacy\u2019 rather than throwing out speculative information,\u201d a Russian foreign ministry statement said.<\/p>\n<p>The United States this week announced that it made an offer to Russia, weeks ago, to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan but did not reveal what it was offering.<\/p>\n<p>A source familiar with the situation said Washington was willing to exchange Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25 year-prison sentence in the United States, as part of a deal.<\/p>\n<p>Families of Americans detained abroad, many of them by some of the top U.S. adversaries, have been increasing pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden, most recently in the case of two-time Olympic gold medallist Griner, who was arrested on drugs charges at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 and could face up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in Uzbekistan, Lavrov said talks on prisoner exchanges had been taking place since a summit in Geneva last year where President Vladimir Putin and Biden had agreed to nominate officials to look into the issue.<\/p>\n<p>IMPOSE ADDITIONAL COSTS<\/p>\n<p>Blinken said he also emphasized to Lavrov that the world expected Russia to fulfill its commitments under a deal with Ukraine struck in Turkey to reopen grain and fertilizer exports that have been blocked by war, which is deepening a worldwide food crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmbassador Brink, our ambassador to Ukraine, was in Odesa this morning. She confirmed the ships are loaded and ready to go\u2026As I made clear, we\u2019re looking to see that move forward as soon as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Lavrov told Blinken that it was the U.S. sanctions that complicated the global food situation.<\/p>\n<p>The top U.S. diplomat also warned Lavrov against going ahead with plans to further annex parts of Ukraine. \u201cThe world will not recognize annexations. We will impose additional significant costs on Russia if it moves forward with its plans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Lavrov said Russia will meet targets of its \u2018special military operation\u2019 in Ukraine \u2013 the term Moscow uses to define its invasion of Ukraine, which it says is conducted in self-defense. Ukraine and its allies say the Russian assault is entirely unprovoked.<\/p>\n<p>Lavrov also told Blinken that \u2018the continuous pumping of U.S. and NATO weapons into the armed forces of Ukraine\u2026only prolongs the agony of the regime in Kyiv prolonging the conflict and multiplying the casualties,\u201d according to the Russian foreign ministry.<\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis in Washington, additional reporting by David Ljungrenn, Steve Holland in Washington; writing by Humeyra Pamuk and Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Hugh Lawson and Alistair Bell)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/?attachment_id=2732167\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI6S0D0-VIEWIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI6S0D0-VIEWIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday held a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and pressed the Kremlin to accept the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1579663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}