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Lavrov hopes Russia-US channel for exchange of convicts to yield results

The top diplomat added that there had been no contact with Blinken on general political issues

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hopes that the special channel of communication between the Russian and US special services, created to resolve prisoner exchange issues, will yield results.

"[US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken made a telephone call a long time ago. Only once. He was asking questions about those American citizens who have been convicted and are in prison here. Although he knows very well that the presidents agreed in June 2021 in Geneva to create a completely different channel to deal with this particular topic, a channel of communication between the special services. It works, and I hope some results will be achieved," Lavrov told a press conference on European security issues on Thursday.

He added that there had been no contact with Blinken on general political issues.

"As far as I understand, there is some kind of division of labor afoot in Washington. The office of [US presidential national security advisor] Jake Sullivan wants to do certain things, the Department of State wishes to do something else. We don’t delve into the twists and turns that may occur in the US bureaucratic machine. It is up to the president and other officials to decide," Lavrov concluded.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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