Antony Blinken cancels meeting with Sergey Lavrov

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced that he has canceled a scheduled meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"Last week, I agreed to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week on February 24th to discuss our countries’ respective concerns about European security, but only if Russia did not invade Ukraine. Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time. I consulted with our allies and partners – all agree – and today I sent Foreign Minister Lavrov a letter informing him of this," Blinken stated at a joint press briefing with Ukraine's FM Dmytro Kuleba.

For the record, the meeting of Antony Blinken and Sergey Lavrov was to be held on February 24 in Geneva.