Blinken says war weakened Russia, to speak with Russian FM

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he will speak to his Russian counterpart for the first time since the Ukraine invasion.

He would narrowly focus the call on the priorities including the release of detained Americans, he added.

The phone call "in the coming days" with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "will not be a negotiation about Ukraine," Blinken told reporters.

He also talked about the grain deal that was signed in Istanbul, saying that Russia must honor the deal it struck with the UN, Türkiye, and Ukraine to be able to allow the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.

Blinken said that the Ukraine war has weakened Russia profoundly.

"Moscow is cherrypicking economic data to support insistence that everything is fine when this is simply not true," he said.

He also said that Moscow is laying the groundwork to add more Ukrainian territory.

"Annexation by force is a gross violation of the UN charter."