(CNN) — On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s agenda is “busy with international contacts such as the meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, as well as bilateral meetings.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Lavrov would “take care” of the US State Department’s request to speak with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken when “time permits,” according to Russian media.
On Wednesday, the US Secretary of State announced his intention to speak with the Russian foreign minister, for the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine more than five months ago.
Blinken said, at a press conference at the US State Department, that he expected to contact his Russian counterpart this week to discuss an “important proposal” made to Moscow “weeks ago” for the release of two unjustly detained Americans, Paul Whelan and Britney Greiner, and also intends to discuss The recently signed agreement to allow the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
CNN had previously revealed that the US administration had offered to release convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for the release of US citizens.
CNN reported, earlier on Thursday, that US administration officials are frustrated that Moscow has not yet responded to the offer, and officials told CNN that they expected Moscow would welcome the offer, but they did not receive a response.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the offer has been made to Russia “frequently and directly” over several weeks, and Blinken plans to discuss it in his upcoming call with Lavrov.
