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The conversation Blinken plans to have with Lavrov is about more than just prisoner trades which makes it very interesting.

TASS
The United States sent a request to the Russian Federation about a telephone conversation between Lavrov and Blinken, but so far they cannot report on the timing of the conversation.

The US Secretary of State, during a conversation with the Russian Foreign Minister, wants to raise the issue of Russia’s possible plans for territories in Ukraine, the State Department said.

Lavrov will pay special attention to the request to speak with the US Secretary of State when time permits, Zakharova said.
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AP: Isolation complication? US finds it’s hard to shun Russia

The Biden administration likes to say Russia has become isolated internationally because of its invasion of Ukraine. Yet Moscow’s top officials have hardly been cloistered in the Kremlin. And now, even the U.S. wants to talk.

President Vladimir Putin has been meeting with world leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member. Meanwhile, his top diplomat, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is jetting around the world, smiling, shaking hands and posing for photos with foreign leaders — including some friends of the U.S.

And on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he wants to end months of top-level U.S. diplomatic estrangement with Lavrov to discuss the release of American detainees as well as issues related to Ukraine. The call has not been scheduled but is expected in coming days.

The handshakes and phone calls cast doubt on a core part of the U.S. strategy aimed at ending the Ukraine war: that diplomatic and economic isolation, along with battlefield setbacks, would ultimately force Russia to send its troops home.

“They are going to drag this out and try to humiliate us as much as they can,” said Ian Kelly, a retired career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Georgia in the Obama and Trump administrations. “I don’t think it goes along with (the administration’s) overall policy.”