Blinken told reporters that the expected phone conversation “in the coming days” with Lavrov “will not be for negotiations on Ukraine”, but for American prisoners in Russia and for the resumption of the export of Ukrainian grain crops.
“I intend to raise an issue that is a priority for us: the release of Paul Whelan and Britney Greiner, who have been wrongfully detained, and who should be allowed to return to their country,” Blinken added.
And he continued, “We put a proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate the release” of the American detainees, and he did not want to give details about what the American offer was, according to “AFP.”
Greiner, a Phoenix Mercury player, has been in prison since arriving at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February, where she was arrested with, according to the indictment, e-cigarette packages filled with cannabis oil, and faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
As for Whelan, who was a security official in an auto parts company and a former Marine, he was arrested by Moscow in December 2018 on charges of possessing sensitive materials, and was convicted of espionage in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Regarding the grain export file, Blinken said that he will discuss with Lavrov a Russian-Ukrainian agreement to export 25 million tons of grain, which was reached last week in Istanbul with Turkish mediation and UN sponsorship.
“We hope that this agreement will allow the rapid resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea, and that Russia will fulfill its pledge to allow these ships to transit,” he said.
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