Russia rejects US' claim of proposing telephonic dialogue between Blinken and Lavrov

Russia on Wednesday, July 27 said that it has received "no requests" from the President Biden-led US administration for any telephonic conversation scheduled between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In a confirmation to TASS, the Russian foreign ministry said, "There have been no requests, only media reports. We rely on regular diplomatic practices rather than on megaphone diplomacy." 

Blinken says he has plans to speak with Lavrov

The statement comes as US Secretary Blinken had earlier stated that he has plans to speak with Lavrov over the issue of the stranded grain export from the key ports in the Black Sea. Speaking at the US State Department's press conference, Blinken had said, “In the coming days, I expect to speak with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov for the first time since the war (in Ukraine) began and address the release of Brittney Griner & Paul Whelan. We gave a substantial proposal weeks ago to facilitate their release.” The US Secretary had also said that the United States communicated a “substantial offer” to Moscow in order to secure a release of the basketball star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan. 

“We communicated a substantial offer that we believe could be successful based on a history of conversations with the Russians,” a senior administration said in a televised remark on CNN, raising the prospects of talks between the two officials. 

Russia, however, rejected prospects of a phone conversation with the US, stressing that the Kremlin only focuses on diplomatic practices and not on phone diplomacy. 

Lavrov had earlier stated that the US, EU and the UK have been intending to escalate the ongoing conflict in Ukraine by waging a proxy war with Russia and want a larger confrontation between Moscow and members of the European Union. Moscow's Foreign Minister, in an interview with state-affiliated RT, said, “Our American counterparts, British counterparts, with active support from Germans, the Polish and the Baltic states, they really want to turn this war into a real war and start a confrontation between Russia and European states." 

The Russian minister also slammed the West for “keeping Ukraine from any constructive steps”. Lavrov said that they have been creating an obstruction in the peace talks and influencing Ukraine for their own vested interests. “[Ukraine is] not just [being] pumped with weapons. They are forced to use these weapons in an increasingly riskier way," Lavrov said.