- US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin met with the chief Russian diplomat, Sergey Lavrov.
- Blinken expressed concern about the health of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny.
- There was no information on whether the two ministers also discussed a possible summit between Putin and Biden in June.
The US State Department announced that in addition to “suppressing” the opposition, bilateral talks on Wednesday evening in Reykjavik, Iceland, dealt with Russian military demonstrations in and near Ukraine.
“It is no secret that we have disagreements.”
Blinken emphasized US President Biden’s determination to defend the interests of the United States and its allies against Russia’s actions. According to the two sides, the meeting was about normalizing relations.
According to the United States Department, Blinken stressed that the United States is striving for “a more stable and predictable relationship with Moscow.” “It’s no secret that we have our differences,” Blinken told the cameras at the beginning of the conversation.
Even Lavrov said: “Our assessments of the international situation differ greatly. We have completely different approaches to the tasks that we have to solve in order to normalize the situation.” However, there are international issues in which both sides have similar interests and opportunities for cooperation exist.
Legend:
According to the US State Department, the two ministers also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea
Keystone
There was no information on whether the two ministers also discussed holding a possible summit between Kremlin President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden in a European country in June. The Kremlin has not yet agreed with Biden’s proposal and has justified his hesitation with an ongoing analysis of the situation.
SRF 4 News, May 20, 2021; 5:00 pm.; sda / dpa / bisv; blac
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