Antony Blinken
Antony BlinkenReuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday he spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov by phone and urged Moscow to accept a US offer to release two Americans detained in Russia, The Associated Press reported.

It was Blinken’s first talk with his Russian counterpart since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Blinken did not provide details of Lavrov’s response to what he had previously called a “substantial proposal” for Russia to release the two US citizens, Paul Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.

The Secretary of State earlier this week publicly requested the call and revealed the existence of the offer to Russia, which reportedly involves a swap for Whelan and Griner with convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Russia, however, was not quick to accept Blinken’s request, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson saying on Thursday Lavrov will “pay attention” to the US request when “time permits”.

Blinken described Friday’s call as “a frank and direct conversation” centered primarily on the proposal for the release of the Americans.

He also said he had pressed Lavrov on the importance of Russia following through on an agreement to allow Ukrainian grain shipments to leave the Black Sea and warned him of consequences should Moscow move ahead with suspected plans to annex portions of eastern and southern Ukraine.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby recently warned that Russia “is laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory that it controls in direct violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.”

"Russia is beginning to roll out a version of what you could call an annexation playbook, very similar to the one we saw in 2014," when it invaded and eventually annexed Crimea, Kirby said.

"Already, Russia is installing illegitimate proxy officials in the areas of Ukraine that are under its control," he added.

Kirby also said Russia had plans to organize "sham referenda" in the areas it has seized, possibly as early as September.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)