Blinken and Lavrov will meet in Geneva on January 21 | News from Germany about Russia

Against the backdrop of the crisis surrounding the possible military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will meet on January 21 in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The talks will focus on ways of diplomatic settlement of the conflict around Ukraine.

“Mr. Blinken is 150 percent interested to see if there is a diplomatic solution,” a spokesman for the US State Department said during a telephone briefing for journalists on Tuesday, January 18, recalling that the meeting with Lavrov will take place after talks with allies and partners in Kiev and Berlin .

At the same time, she expressed Washington’s concern about the arrival of the Russian military in Belarus. This circumstance gives Moscow an additional opportunity to invade Ukraine, the representative of the State Department explained.

Meetings in Kiev and Berlin

On January 19, Anthony Blinken will meet in Kiev with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, the next day in Berlin he will hold talks with Foreign Ministers of Germany, France and Great Britain Annalena Baerbock, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Liz Truss .

Germany, the US and other Western countries are making efforts to de-escalate the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Annalena Burbock held talks in Kiev on January 17 and met with Sergey Lavrov on January 18. Last week, talks between the United States and Russia in Geneva, at the NATO-Russia Council and within the OSCE ended inconclusively.

On January 17, Minsk announced the holding of joint military exercises with Russia near the borders of Ukraine in February. These maneuvers will take place “on the western borders of the Union State and on the southern flank of Belarus,” said the country’s ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

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Author: Jan Walter, Kevin Mertens