«It turned out that the U.S. Secretary of State didn’t even try to talk about it»: Zakharova

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not discuss the case of Paul Whelan, who has been sentenced in Russia, during their brief conversation at the summit in India. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

“Oh, how curious. I asked Sergey Viktorovich (Lavrov - ed.) whether Blinken had raised the topic of Whelan yesterday. It turned out that the U.S. Secretary of State didn’t even try to talk about it. Everything that the State Department said yesterday, claiming that Blinken had allegedly expressed concern about the situation of the American citizen, is a lie,” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

Previously, it was reported by the State Department that during a brief meeting with his Russian counterpart in India, on the sidelines of the G20, the U.S. Secretary of State called on Moscow to return to compliance with the START treaty, to cease military operations in Ukraine, and also raised the issue of American Paul Whelan, who has been sentenced for espionage in Russia.