MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. A meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart Antony Blinken on January 21 in Geneva is in the works, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Soloviev Live YouTube channel on Wednesday.
The diplomat noted that earlier, at the US initiative, a phone conversation between Lavrov and Blinken dedicated to security guarantees was held. "They agreed on a meeting. Currently this meeting is in the works, indeed, the date of January 21 was mentioned, [in] Geneva. I saw that the State Department had already announced it. I can say that indeed the location and this date are being worked out now. We proceed from the premise that this meeting may be held on this day. Currently it is being arranged," she added.
On Tuesday, a high-ranking representative of the US Department of State said that Washington presumed that the upcoming Geneva meeting of the US State Secretary and the Russian top diplomat would continue diplomatic interaction on security issues and may facilitate mutual understanding.
On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the draft agreements between Moscow and Washington on security guarantees and the measures of ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. Russia-US consultations on these issues were held on January 10 in Geneva, a session of the NATO-Russia Council was held on January 12 in Brussels and a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council where these initiatives were also discussed took place on January 13 in Vienna.