WASHINGTON, February 19. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accepted the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to hold a meeting on February 23 unless Russia invades Ukraine before that date, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing on Friday.
"He has accepted the offer, he will be engaging, I should say, with his Russian counterpart next Wednesday unless, of course, they invade," Psaki said.
Finland and Switzerland were earlier reported as venues for the next possible meeting between Lavrov and Blinken. Russia’s Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin pointed out that the potential venue and location of the meeting were being negotiated.
On February 17, Russia handed to the United States its reply to Washington’s response on security measures in Europe.
The West and Kiev have recently been spreading allegations about Russia’s potential ‘invasion’ of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded", serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such allegations and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have serious consequences.