Lavrov Urges Blinken Not To Replicate Speculation About Russia's 'Aggression' - Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urged the latter not to replicate speculation about the allegedly impending "Russian aggression" against Kiev, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2022) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urged the latter not to replicate speculation about the allegedly impending "Russian aggression" against Kiev, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The conversation on Tuesday took place at the initiative of the US side. The parties continued their exchange of views, taking into account the results of the talks between the interdepartmental delegations of Russia and the United States in Geneva, as well as discussions within NATO in Brussels and at the OSCE in Vienna.

"In the context of the situation in southeastern Ukraine, the minister urged the secretary of state not to replicate speculation about the allegedly impending 'Russian aggression,' but to force the authorities in Kiev to implement the Minsk agreements in full," the ministry said in a statement.

Lavrov told Blinken that it was imperative for Washington to provide comments "on paper" to Moscow's proposals on security guarantees as soon as possible, it said.

"Lavrov again singled out the fundamental points in the drafts of the bilateral treaty with the United States and the agreement with NATO, which we submitted earlier, which fix legal guarantees for ensuring Russia's security within the framework of the principle of indivisibility of security approved by all Euro-Atlantic countries. On our part, we reaffirmed the imperative that Washington provide 'on paper' specific article-by-article comments on the mentioned documents," the ministry stressed.

Lavrov and Blinken also discussed the possibility of continuing contacts in the near future.