Blinken, Lavrov speak on detention of Paul Whelan, US journalist

Admin l Monday, April 3, 2023

 LAGOS, Nigeria – For the first time since the war broke out in Ukraine, there was a top level interaction between Russia and the United States on Sunday, over detention of an American journalist, Paul Whelan.

 Secretary of State, Antony Blinken initiated the call, wherein he told his Russian counterpart that the American government is not happy with continued detention of the journalist without any charge.

In a statement, Principal Deputy Spokesperson  Vedant Patel said the Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

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According to him, Secretary Blinken conveyed the United States’ grave concern over Russia’s unacceptable detention of a U.S. citizen journalist.

The Secretary, he said called for immediate release of Paul Whelan.

He said Secretary Blinken further urged the Kremlin to immediately release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan and that  Secretary and Foreign Minister Lavrov also discussed the importance of creating an environment that permits diplomatic missions to carry out their work.

The statement did not state what Lavrov told the American Secretary of State.