USA, Russia’s top diplomats meet in Sweden on Thursday
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken will meet his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts separately on Thursday on the outskirts of a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden in the midst of tensions in Ukraine.
An official from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed the meetings, which will take place alongside a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Blinken will first meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and later with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
European countries and NATO have accused Russia of recently building troops along the border with Ukraine, whose government is trying to align itself with NATO and the West, while Russia has denied the allegations.
Blinken and Lavrov will meet alongside the annual two-day meeting with foreign ministers from the 57 OSCE countries.
The OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization and brings together countries from North America, Europe and Asia.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the diplomatic dispute between Washington and Moscow, Russia’s foreign ministry announced on Wednesday that US diplomats who have worked in Moscow for more than three years must leave the country by January 31, in a tit-for-a-ploy for the United States. forcing 27 Russian diplomatic staff to leave the country by the end of January.
KI / PR