Official: Blinken, Russian FM to meet amid Ukraine tensions

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet separately with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts at a time of tension over Russian military deployments on Ukraine’s borders. A State Department official confirmed the meetings, which will happen Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Stockholm, Sweden. Blinken is to meet first with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and later with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Tensions over a Russian troop build-up along the border of Ukraine have been a focus of Blinken’s weeklong Europe trip. Ukraine’s government has been seeking to align with NATO and the West.