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Blinken did not discuss Whelan’s swap with Lavrov in New Delhi — diplomat

"Everything that was said yesterday in the State Department, that Blinken expressed concern about the situation around the US citizen, was a lie," Maria Zakharova said

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not raise the topic of the swap of American citizen Paul Whelan during his conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Friday.

"Oh, how interesting. Checked in with Sergey Viktorovich [Lavrov] to see if Blinken brought up Whelan yesterday. Turns out the US Secretary of State didn't even bring it up. Everything that was said yesterday in the State Department, that Blinken expressed concern about the situation around the US citizen, was a lie. Unbelievable behavior of the US administration," the diplomat said.

Blinken earlier told a news conference in New Delhi that he had asked Lavrov to accept the US prisoner swap proposal to release American citizen Paul Whelan, convicted in Russia for espionage. The US top diplomat also said that he urged Russia to reverse the decision to suspend Moscow's participation in the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty).

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Military operation in Ukraine

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European Parliament urges EU states to regard Russian presidential vote as illegitimate

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