-Agency Reports
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have held their first phone call since July 2022.
According to the statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov told Blinken that the media has “inflated” the story, and that Gershkovich has allegedly been “caught red-handed trying to obtain classified information by collecting data constituting a state secret under the guise of his status as a journalist.”
“Several issues of importance to both countries have also been discussed during the conversation,” the statement read, without clarifying what those issues were.
“The Secretary and Foreign Minister Lavrov also discussed the importance of creating an environment that permits diplomatic missions to carry out their work,” the US State Department statement reads.
Blinken and Lavrov’s previous phone call in July 2022 also concerned the release of US citizens illegally detained in Russia. The two also spoke briefly on the margins of the G20 meeting in New Delhi in March 2023.
