GENEVA, January 20. /TASS/. The much-awaited meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, set to be held in Geneva on January 21, has unsurprisingly attracted a lot of attention from global media outlets. More than 60 journalists have been accredited to cover the event, and requests keep pouring in.

It’s not the first time that Geneva, Switzerland, the capital of diplomacy for Europe and the entire world, will host such an important meeting. In June 2021, the Geneva-hosted Putin-Biden summit gave a positive impetus to dialogue between the two countries. However, unlike the June meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States, this time, no large-scale security measures are being taken in Geneva. Traffic is moving along its usual routes according to schedule and the city continues to go about its usual day-to-day business.

The Lavrov-Blinken meeting is expected to take place at Hotel President Wilson, which has a reputation for hosting major international events, including Russian-US meetings. It was the venue for talks between Russian top diplomat Sergey Lavrov and then US Secretary of State John Kerry in August and September 2016. Russia’s delegation stayed at Hotel President Wilson during the Russian-US consultations on security guarantees that took place on January 9-10. The hotel was the place where US diplomats were based in June 2021, when Geneva hosted the Putin-Biden summit.