The United States wants a more stable relationship with Russia but much will depend on how aggressively the Kremlin decides to act, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday (May 3).
Speaking after a meeting with Blinken in London, British foreign minister Dominic Raab said Russia’s behaviour “must change.”
The British foreign minister also said reports suggesting British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is due to be released by Iran are inaccurate.
He made the comments a day after Iranian state TV, quoting an unidentified Iranian official, had said Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be released once Britain had paid off a debt on military equipment owed to Tehran.
Blinken commented on the report by Iran’s state television, which also said that the arch-foes had reached a prisoner swap deal in exchange for the release of $7 billion frozen Iranian oil funds under U.S. sanctions in other countries. Blinken said the reports was “not accurate.”
On North Korea, Blinken said Pyongyang needed to engage diplomatically to see if there were ways to achieve the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
During the press conference, both Blinken and Raab stressed the importance of returning Myanmar “to democracy.”
Blinken said the US is “very focused on a deliberate, safe and orderly draw down of forces” from Afghanistan.
He also said the West was not trying to hold China down.
via Reuters
