Lavrov to Blinken: Flooding Ukraine with US and NATO weapons prolongs the conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday that “the ongoing flooding of the Ukrainian army and nationalist battalions with American and NATO weapons, which are used against civilian population, only prolongs the agony of the Kiev regime, protracts the conflict and multiplies casualties,” according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Lavrov and Blinken discussed Russia’s position on the situation around Ukraine, the global food security and prisoner swap, the ministry said after the telephone conversation.

Lavrov clarified Russia’s principled approaches in light of the ongoing special military operation on the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Ukraine and stressed that “its goals and tasks will be inevitably attained,” the ministry added.

“Lavrov stressed that the Russian armed forces strictly observe norms of international law and systemic work is being done on the liberated territories to resume peaceful life,” the ministry stressed.

Concerning the situation of global food security, the ministry said that “Blinken was informed about the details of the package agreement, signed on July 22 in Istanbul, regarding transportation of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports and on promotion of export of Russian food and fertilizers.”

“Lavrov drew special attention to the fact that the global food situation is complicated by the US sanctions and that the US has not yet fulfilled its promise to grant the relevant exemptions for Russian food exports. He stressed that the use of this problem by the collective West in its geopolitical interests is inadmissible,” according to the ministry.

The ministry went on to say that the two top diplomats stressed that bilateral relations badly need normalization.

“Concerning possible exchange of prisoners with the United States, the Russian side strongly recommended the sides return to professional dialogue in the regime of quiet diplomacy, without speculations and fakes,” the ministry said.

Hamda Mustafa