"I checked with Sergey Viktorovich whether Blinken raised the topic of Whelan yesterday. It turned out that the US Secretary of State did not even say a word about this. Everything that the State Department said yesterday about Blinken expressing concern about the situation around the US citizen is a lie," Zakharova wrote on telegram.
The two met on the sidelines of the G20 ministerial in New Delhi on Thursday. Blinken later spoke about the details of the brief conversation.
In particular, he called on Russia to return to the implementation of the New START, raised the issue of the US citizen, and called on Russia to stop the special operation in Ukraine and start a diplomatic dialogue.