(Washington) The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov next week if Russia does not invade Ukraine, the State Department said Thursday evening.
Posted at 9:22 p.m.
Updated at 9:44 p.m.
Mr. Blinken had offered to meet Mr. Lavrov “in Europe next week. The Russians responded with proposed dates for the end of next week, which we accepted, provided there was no Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the spokesman said. State Department Ned Price.
“If they invade in the next few days, it will clearly show that they were never serious about diplomacy,” he added.
A White House official said US President Joe Biden would meet on Friday afternoon “with transatlantic leaders […] about the Russian military troops massed on the Ukrainian border” and the efforts to make diplomacy prevail.
According to the program of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, this remote meeting will bring together the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, European Union and NATO.