Blinken To Meet With Russian FM Lavrov Next Week In Iceland

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet in person with his Russian counterpart next week in Iceland, the highest-level in-person talks between Washington and Moscow since President Joe Biden took office.

The meeting, which was announced Wednesday in separate statements from the U.S. State Department and Russian Foreign Ministry, will take place on May 20 on the sidelines of the Arctic Council ministerial meeting. Blinken, who spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, called on Moscow to release former U.S. Marines Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, who are serving 16-year and 9-year prison sentences, respectively, according to a State Department readout of the conversation.