Blinken calls Lavrov and opposes designating Russia as a “sponsor of terrorism”

Blinken said in a press conference that he had “frank” talks with his Russian counterpart, urging him to accept the United States’ offer to release Americans detained in Russia. He explained that he had warned Lavrov that the world would “never” recognize Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory.

On the other hand, Moscow announced that Lavrov told his American counterpart that Washington was not fulfilling its promises regarding exempting Russian food supplies from sanctions.

In a briefing on the call, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov told Blinken that Russia would achieve all the goals of its “special military operation” in Ukraine, and that Western arms supplies would only prolong the conflict.

On Wednesday, Blinken announced that his country had made an “important” offer to Russia to release two American prisoners, revealing that he would speak by phone to his Russian counterpart for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the holding of prisoner exchange talks between Russia and the United States, but said that no agreement had been reached so far.

The United States and Russia engaged in a prisoner exchange last April, in which Russia released former Marine Trevor Reed in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was convicted of drug smuggling in the United States.

Meanwhile, The New York Times said Blinken was “resisting” congressional pressure to declare Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism.”

For weeks, Blinken has been under pressure for Russia to be officially declared a state sponsor of terrorism. But despite the emotional appeal of such a phrase, Blinken is resisting a move that might force him to impose sanctions on US allies who do business with Russia.

According to the newspaper’s information, this initiative is fully supported by the US Senate and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Earlier, the White House did not respond to whether US President Joe Biden agreed to call Russia to be declared a “state sponsor of terrorism.”

For his part, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the Kremlin views very negatively regarding the consequences for Russian-US relations if Russia is declared a state “sponsor of terrorism.” As for Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, she said that Moscow considers such statements issued by Washington a “propaganda movement” and stressed that the Russian side will not leave such measures unanswered.